


Is it too good to be true?

by mancal99



Category: Sex Education (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:41:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 61
Words: 47,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25127149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mancal99/pseuds/mancal99
Summary: Otis and Maeve's relationship isn't in a good place after the party. But Otis is now a "reformed character" and although Maeve is "disappointed" her door is still open and she hasn't shut him out of her life. After a conversation with Aimee, she realises that she can't be without him, so she takes the initiative and hopes..... Can it work between them?
Relationships: Otis Milburn/Maeve Wiley
Comments: 31
Kudos: 124





	1. She knew

She knew.........

Maeve found herself sitting on a bench near the bike racks as the school bell rang to end the day. She'd drifted out of class and instead of heading home, she was drawn to Otis's bike, locked up in its usual place.

She knew...... he'd be out soon. Looking back to the first time they'd met in the biology lab, she now knew a lot of things.

She knew..... in the lab that there was something about him that interested and intrigued her.

She knew...... that when he helped Adam in the toilet block there was much more to this awkward, clumsy, introverted sweet dickhead than could be seen on the surface.

She knew....... on the swings at Aimee's party that his talent was something that could develop into a going business concern.

She knew........he was dedicated and kind when she saw him waiting at the clinic with those stupid flowers and in that stupid suit..... and that when she hugged him, she knew their friendship was pure and sweet.

She knew in the pool........ that she hadn't laughed so much for an absolute age.

She knew on the bridge......

“Hi Maeve.” A cheery, if slightly confused voice greeted her, bringing her gently out of her reflections on the bench. Those blue, blue eyes were always the first to get her attention, followed in a split second by the butterflies in her stomach. Otis added, “You're looking rather deeply engrossed in............”

She interrupted him suddenly but there was no hint of aggression. “It's because I _know.”_

__

“What?”

__

She'd heard that tone just after he'd given her the diary, and she knew....... that that sweet tone was going to make her lose any remnants of composure she was trying to muster up.

__

“I know, dickhead, that in spite of telling you I was disappointed, not angry with you after the party, that I could forgive you.”

__

“There,” she said to herself. “I did it.”

__


	2. Is now a good time to ask about that voicemail?

Otis was heading for the bike rack when he saw her. He was feeling pretty good because he'd just got his best grade ever in the big history test and even better when he saw Maeve sitting there. She didn't usually hang around by the bike racks unless she was waiting for somebody, and that somebody had always been him. She looked so deep in thought though, totally switched off to the world around her.

"I'll just try to sound as friendly as I can, just in case there's something wrong," he decided. Why had his heart rate gone up to way off the scale?

"Hi Maeve," he said cheerily. She looked up with a little start, and a trace of a smile, but otherwise quite calmly. He felt those eyes had the power to root him to the spot and totally disarm him. But she didn't say hi.

Not wanting there to be an uncomfortable silence, he pressed on. "You're looking rather deeply engrossed in......."

“It's because I _know.”_

__

She stood and looked straight into his eyes.

__

"What?"

__

The moment just after he'd given her the diary flashed through his mind. He had used that same affectionate tone then. What did she know? It could have been anything, and Otis only thought something really bad. But why that look of determination in her gorgeous brown eyes? They were fixed on him and he started to feel very insecure. He was starting to tremble when some of the most beautiful words she had ever said to him came quietly but firmly out of her mouth. Oh those sweet lips.....“I know, dickhead, that in spite of telling you I was disappointed, not angry with you after the party, that I could forgive you.” Was that a flirtatious, confident little smile he was seeing? 

__

His heart was racing like an express train. He had stopped dead about three feet away from her, but couldn't stop himself from taking another step forward. They had stood close before........ on the bridge that night when he had so stupidly freaked out. But there was to be no freaking out this time. 

__

"I was going to ask about the voicemail," he thought to himself. But was that even important anymore, after what he had just heard?

__

Their hands were about six inches apart, and he knew that any thoughts of rejection were a million miles away. He reached hesitantly for her hand, touching it gently, and oh my god, she didn't pull away. She gently slipped her hand into his, and squeezed it so tenderly. A squeeze that both she and Otis wanted to last forever.

__

He knew that this was not just a token of close friendship, but oh so much more.

__

And she had known it forever.

__


	3. A therapist's solution

They stood there, hand in hand, both believing that what had happened was some kind of beautiful dream. Maeve just couldn't hide the love in her eyes, and Otis, for want of a better expression, was mesmerised, like a rabbit (where was a rabbit on the food chain?) caught in headlights.

"Aimee ought to be a therapist." Maeve loved to catch Otis on the wrong foot. She loved the way he got so confused at some of the things she said to him.

"Huh?"

"Otis, I've been so stupid ever since I got to know you. It's been lovely, really, but....."

Otis almost panicked and thought for a horrible moment she was going to break his heart.

"...but she asked me a simple question yesterday right out of the blue."

Otis was hanging on to her every word, and she sensed he was feeling edgy, so she squeezed his hand a little tighter.

"Wh.... what did she ask you?"

Maeve felt so strong as she looked him deep in the eyes. It was she who was searching his soul this time. It was usually Otis who did the soulsearching with his deep blue eyes. She remembered how he knew about her writing Adam's essay. She thought nobody could ever know her so well, but he had this wonderful gift, one of so many of his hidden qualities, all of which she loved without question.

"I was stupid, dickhead, I'd never even looked at our relationship like that."

Otis just wondered what on earth was coming next. And he didn't have to wait long.

"She asked me 'If for some reason, doesn't matter what, you could never see him or talk to him again, how would you feel about that?'"

Otis marvelled at Aimee's ability to get right to the point. His voice cracked as he asked. "And......?"

Maeve looked at him in a way he'd never seen her look at him before, and her eyes were two inches away from his. "Otis......" That questioning "Otis" sounded so familiar..... Aah, she was holding the diary when she'd put so much feeling into saying his name.... 

"I told her I'd be absolutely devastated and that I couldn't bear it. I still had feelings for you, such strong ones,...........and I told her I loved you so much."

Otis nearly died on the spot. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought he'd hear so much sweet emotion in just a few moments.

He somehow managed to get the next question out without having a nervous breakdown. "After I was such an arsehole you could still say you loved me?"

"Otis, when I thought I'd mess up so much and never be able to see you again, it was so easy to forgive you. Aimee said simply 'Next time he approaches you, you know what to do.' So here we are."

Otis's confidence was now through the roof. He was flying so high he knew he'd be able to get the next question out so easily.

"I can't believe you opened up so sweetly to Aimee, Maeve. And that's how you feel now?"

"I love you like crazy, Otis."

It was broad daylight, but they both could imagine the moon and the stars on that sunny afternoon. And dumb luck had struck yet again.


	4. A kind of telepathy

What happened next was inevitable, considering they were so close to each other. But there was a kind of synchronicity about what they both did; it was a kind of telepathy. Their lips met, but there was no initiator to the kiss. They melted into each other's arms and it happened. It was short, tender, and both broke off after a couple of seconds. And neither was disappointed. It had just felt so right. Otis had never felt like this kissing Ola, and Maeve knew this was nothing like she had ever done with any other boy.

Both had just been through some of the most intense emotions, and somehow, a short but oh so meaningful kiss seemed to be enough, because they both knew there would be more, and both smiled at the thought. They were in total agreement about going their separate ways after school, but each of them knew that not much in the way of homework was going to be done. And both had promised to text each other later.

Otis lay in his room, alone in the house. His mum had gone out with Maureen Groff, so he was totally free to go over and over again in his mind what had happened. He simply couldn't believe that he had kissed the most beautiful girl he had ever met and, yes, oh my god, he had conquered the heart of the most amazing human being that ever existed. All that would take a lot of processing, especially as, only a few hours before, he had been in the middle of a history test. His heart was beating just a little above the normal rate, he seemed to be thinking clearly and rationally, but dreamily too. But most important, this was beautiful, true and utterly complete love that he was feeling. He liked that. He liked it a lot.

Maeve leaned back on her sofa, with only one thing on her mind. She hadn't messed up, and she was enraptured. She had Aimee to thank for this, and the chemistry that she and Otis had that had made their first kiss possible. The almost perfect photographic image of his face and the look of absolute awe in his incredibly blue eyes repeated itself over and over again as he reacted to her declaration of love for him. She felt she would never tire of watching him as the stark realisation sank into his beautiful brain. She had had the strength and courage to tell him she loved him, and she had got that strength from Otis himself, not forgetting that unforgettable question from Aimee, of course. Her heart was racing, but she somehow loved the feeling that she had things under control, for the first time in what had seemed forever.

Her phone buzzed and her smile resembled almost exactly the smile on her face when Otis had sent her the sandwich text. She still wouldn't admit it, but her feelings then were so close to the feelings she had for him now. Why oh why had it taken so long?

_Still can't believe what happened xx_

__

That warm glow spread through her body and she loved it, and she loved him. Her fingers were surprisingly steady as she replied almost instantly.

__

_You know we have Aimee to thank for this, dickhead xx_

__

__

__

His reply made her already rapturous heart go into overdrive.

__

__

__

_Yes we do. We can meet up with her for a coffee or something..... but I really want our next meeting to be just you and me on the hill above your caravan in the summer moonlight xx_

____

__

____

This time her hands were not so steady and she had to correct herself several times.

____

__

____

_Let's make it soon Otis. I love you so madly xx_

_____ _

__

_____ _

His reply couldn't have been more perfect.

_____ _

__

_____ _

_It's always been you. I love you, Maeve xx_

______ _ _

__

______ _ _


	5. The moon and the stars

If you had asked both of them what they'd been doing during the day before they walked up the hill, you'd have got the same answer. Oh nothing much, just routine. Otis had texted Eric and their messages went something like: I'm OK. Need a bit of downtime on my own, will update you later. Surprisingly Eric had understood and he was busy with Adam anyway.

Aimee had found it hard to restrain herself. She needed to ask a million questions when Maeve had texted and said their "strategy" had worked, answering that she would wait patiently for an update later. She was lying of course and was on tenterhooks all day. But she knew Maeve was more than OK and just wanted her to be happy. God knows, her best friend had waited long enough.

Otis and Maeve hardly texted all day, but their telepathy was working flawlessly and each of them was happy and contented. They just needed to arrange a time for their date on the hill. Otis had texted

_9pm at the caravan? I'll bring a little picnic and a blanket. Love you loads xx_

__

She smiled her I Love You smile and she knew he'd be there early because on time was late.

__

_See you at 8.45 and if you're any earlier I'll punch you in the face, dickhead, but I will kiss it better xx_

____

They were both asking themselves, almost in exactly the same words, "Do you sometimes know as soon as you wake up that everything's going to be fine today? I feel it in my bones."

____

____

It was a balmy mid August evening and the moon was near full when at 8.46 there was a knock at the caravan door. Maeve tried not to rush but failed, opened the door and greeted Otis with a very stern face. 

____

"You're late!" He knew she was joking as soon as her face broke into one of her prettiest heartstopping smiles. "Happy to be here, Maeve," and his eyes flashed at her with such an overpowering confident look of mischief in them that turned her insides into a huge swarm of butterflies. She just managed to keep her voice steady, fixed him with a loving smile, and said something she knew he'd remember from that evening when she knew they were going to be more than casual friends. "I'm not inviting you in......." Her eyes were full on him, then changed to a distant look he immediately recognised. His whole body shook with overwhelming feelings of love and affection as he remembered the hug, which he was too surprised by to respond to confidently. His eyes, and she knew because she was fully focused on them, took on that distant look too. A full minute passed by in total silence, which wasn't the least bit uncomfortable for either of them.

____

"I'm not inviting you in because it's just as warm outside as indoors, dickhead. I wouldn't mind a sandwich, as long as it's a bit better than that crummy one you got me while 'You waited' for me at the clinic." He was totally awestruck by the way she could smile in so many different loving, caring ways. "Let's walk."

____

Only minutes later they had spread out the blanket, consumed a tasty picnic that Jean had prepared and they were just enjoying being with each other, sat side by side with their knees and shoulders touching as they watched the constellation of Leo twinkling in the night sky. Otis remembered his moon and stars speech to Liam at the dance and was just thinking to himself that maybe the moon and stars could play a part, as well as dumb luck, in the start of a loving relationship, when he felt her arm wrap around his shoulders, and the softest, most tender kiss behind his ear from the most beautiful girl on the planet took his breath away. She sighed into his ear and whispered. "Otis...... I'm perfectly OK with a kiss that's a bit longer than just a few seconds now, if that's OK with you." 

____

____

He turned his head and ran his fingers through her long brown hair and their lips met once again in the most perfect kiss either of them had ever known. And that wasn't the only loving kiss of the night.

____

Today had indeed turned out just fine for them both.

____


	6. The grocery store, and sometimes it's OK to cry

"More coffee, Otis?"

He would like to have stayed on the blanket all morning. He had woken up just as dawn was breaking, lying on his back with her curled up beside him, one arm across his chest and her hand resting on his shoulder. The sun was trying to peek through the early morning mist, but it was pretty chilly, and it was probably the cold that had woken her a few minutes later. She yawned, looked up at him, blissfully aware that she had him all to herself, gave him a little smile and whispered to him that she wanted to be in his arms forever. But she shivered. The chill morning had won, and they both felt they needed the warmth of her caravan.

They walked back, stopping at the little store for fresh bread rolls, milk and coffee for breakfast. As Otis paid the bill, he glanced at her by his side and she gave him a sweet little smile. They left the store and walked along the road to the caravan park in the chill early morning sunshine and there was birdsong all around.

Memories came flooding back to both of them of that beautiful walk home from that awful clinic. She had willingly talked to him about her mum and her brother, which he knew was a huge step forward for her. She was opening up to him about stuff she would never share with anyone else. And the flowers..... the red flowers which she said she liked. Nobody, but nobody, had ever given her flowers before.

He decided to ask her a question. Confidently, and his confidence came from knowing they could now share everything with each other, he asked, "Maeve, is it hard for you to let me pay for stuff for you? I know how proud you are and how stubborn you can be. How does it feel when I pay for stuff, and you can't pay me back for obvious reasons?"

Was she going to explode and scream at him now? His confidence may have wavered just a tiny bit. But her reply came quickly. He mentally prepared himself for some possibly unpleasant outburst.

She replied calmly, and very seriously. "Otis Milburn, I'm going to answer your question with another one. Did I yell and scream at you when you bought me the flowers, and the sandwich, and the diary?"

"No."

"Exactly. It was so lovely to accept all those things from you because you were showing me that you cared. My lack of cash didn't come into it at all, dickhead, and I will never have reason to yell at you again, because we now have something so special that I don't want to lose it..... or you."

He loved her so much for what she had shared with him, almost more than he loved her for saying that she loved him. Like crazy.

"Thank you for telling me, Maeve. It means so much to me." She smiled sweetly at him and they walked on for a few minutes in silence.

Then the unexpected happened. Without warning, Maeve took a stride forward and turned to face him so he had to stop. She dropped the groceries she was carrying and flung her arms around him and buried her head in his chest and started to cry like a baby. Her sobs shook her body and Otis dropped the blanket and picnic things and all he could do was hold her tightly. It seemed her sobs were shaking both of them to the core.

Despite the enormous shock to him, Otis felt the strength and good sense to just hold her and not ask any stupid questions. "Just let it all out, Maeve. I'm here for you. Always. It's OK, it's OK."

Through her sobs she did manage to say "Let me just get this out of my system and then I'll tell you all about it, Otis"

Very very slowly, her sobs subsided and the pitiful heartrending crying finally came to a stop. She pulled away from him, her eyes red-rimmed and tearstained and looked up at him with a love in her eyes that could move mountains.

Otis kept quiet, not wanting to make her think about anything. He just kept her in a warm, protective embrace and waited for what she might want to say to him.

She finally looked up at him and said softly, "OK, Otis. First I'm sorry if that came as a shock to you, but I've never been able to do anything like this in my life before, and I'm so glad I have you to share this with."

He listened, his love for her growing even more with every little involuntary sob she let out after such a heavy attack of raw emotion.

"Otis, I just can't believe I've got someone special like you who cares so much that I might be upset about a bill for breakfast stuff. You communicated and tried to reassure me that you need to explain why something you did may be upsetting me. And you do it constantly, Otis. You care about me so much and you show it in so many sweet ways that I find it hard to believe it's actually happening. And just now it got so overwhelming that I had to let it out somehow. And before I cried on your shoulder I suddenly remembered I dreamt last night that I was losing you and that just added to it. I love you so much, you stupid dickhead." 

Otis sighed, and said he loved her too, kissed her tenderly and they picked up their stuff and walked back home.

And on their way Otis felt so overwhelmed too, that he had someone as unique and special as Maeve Wiley.

"No thanks, Maeve, I've had enough coffee for now."

The coffee had woken him but she was still tired and just said, "Let's just go back to bed then."

In only a few moments, she had fallen asleep and all he could do was hold her, her head on his chest, and gaze at her beautiful face, stroke her hair and wonder at how amazing she was. 

And she was his .... and only his.


	7. Coffee with Aimee

Otis's phone buzzed as he was finishing a biology worksheet for Mr Hendricks. He smiled broadly as another worksheet slipped out of his folder with the names Otis and Maeve in her handwriting on the top. That had been where it had all started and her smile had been so sweet when she agreed with him that their encounter in the biology lab was the best thing that had ever happened to them both.

_Hey dickhead, coffee with Aimee at the Riverside Cafe OK with you? 4 pm. We wanted to thank her for you know what ... xx_

__

He wanted to hug Aimee for what she had done for them both with such a simple question that he, a sex therapist, had never remotely thought of.

__

_Hi, Maeve. Sounds great. Do you know I love her almost as much as I love you for what she did for us, platonically of course. Haha. I'll be there xx_

____

____

Maeve almost fell off her sofa laughing at him. God he made her so happy. She grinned as she texted back.

____

_Steady on, Buster. If you as much as look at her for more than two seconds you'll be IN the river by the cafe, not on the bank. Love you so much xx_

_____ _

Just like Maeve, he couldn't remember being so deliriously happy for ages.

_____ _

He arrived a minute or two before four to find them already seated outside, laughing their heads off. He knew Aimee was such a cheerful sweetie and she had done so much to help his Maeve, who looked the prettiest he'd ever seen her as she laughed happily.

_____ _

"Hello you two!" 

_____ _

Aimee leapt up from her chair and came and gave him such a big hug he thought it would squeeze all the air out of his body. Maeve looked on and giggled so sweetly as she gave him a mock threatening look. "You'll be in the river before you can even order coffee, Milburn" And to Aimee, "Can I have him back now, so I can give him a quick peck on the cheek?"

_____ _

Aimee released him and told Maeve that lover boy was all hers. Maeve stood and melted into a short but very firm kiss as he put his hands on her waist to say hello.

_____ _

Aimee squealed in delight as she watched them. "You two are gorgeous! I'm so, so happy for both of you!" And she turned her head to Maeve, warning her sternly, "Now you've got him, don't you ever let him go, do you hear me? He's so good for you babes." Maeve grinned at her best friend briefly and turned to her boyfriend and looked deep into his eyes. "I won't."

_____ _

So the happiest afternoon Aimee had spent since the awful assault, flew by with two of her dearest friends. As they were leaving, Aimee went up to Otis and got up on tiptoe and whispered in his ear, "You two are absolute naturals, and bloody idiots for taking so long to get together. If you let her go, Otis Milburn, you'll be in big big trouble, got it?" She left his side with a huge toothy grin.

_____ _

Otis was overjoyed that the afternoon had gone perfectly. And as he paid the bill, he looked at Maeve, who instantly knew the bill was no problem after their walk home from the grocery store, and mouthed the words "I love you dickhead." and she seemed to know exactly what Aimee was whispering to him. The telepathy had again been flawless.

_____ _

The two of them knew there would only be happy times to come.

_____ _


	8. Emily Sands has some news

"Otis, can I have a quick word?"

Ms Sands had taken him to one side after class.

"Sure, Ms Sands."

"It's about your essays on modern romantic short stories. You've made an impressive improvement recently from an average C+. Tomorrow I'll be handing back your best yet. I've given you an A*"

Otis blushed a bright pink. His new girlfriend had given him such enormous inspiration.

Ms Sands continued, " It's almost as if somebody has been inspiring you."

Otis thought he had gradually learned to think before he spoke, but it was as if he was slipping back into his old ways.

"Maeve...... Maeve Wiley."

He knew Ms Sands was aware of which Maeve he was talking about, but he smiled to himself because he loved repeating that beautiful name."

"Yes, Otis. I've seen you with her quite a lot. Are you good friends?"

Again the words came out instantly. He just couldn't hold back.

"More than just good friends now, Ms Sands."

Emily Sands seemed to be reading him like an open book. It was as if they were in a therapy session but this time, she was the therapist.

"You and Maeve are at opposite ends of a huge spectrum, Otis. But I know a bit about students and their talents and the way they think. You two are perfect for each other, Otis Milburn. And Maeve has been looking so happy and contented just recently. It's a huge transformation."

And this time Ms Sands may have reprimanded herself severely for speaking out much too quickly. "She's my absolute favourite and she deserves all the good luck and happiness she can get."

Otis couldn't wait to tell her next time they met. "We're working on it, Ms Sands, both emotionally and academically."

"I didn't only want to talk about your essays, Otis. I also have contacts at the local library. If Maeve acts quickly, she could quite easily get a job as assistant librarian there. The pay isn't fantastic, but better than nothing. Would you like to tell her, or shall I?"

Otis was almost pulling his phone from his pocket.

"I will, Ms Sands. And thanks ever so much for telling me. You're a super teacher, and with you and Maeve working together to help me, I hope to maintain my standards in class."

Emily Sands suddenly felt the warmest glow creeping through her body. Where was this coming from?

Maeve adored getting texts from Otis. Before she went to sleep at night she re-read them time and time again.

_Ms Sands had a word with me after class today. I have some huge news for you, oh joyous one. Meet on the lawn after school. I love you to the moon and back xx_

__

She once again smiled that special I Love You smile and texted straight back.

__

_Hey you stupid dickhead, you can't keep me hanging like this. What's it about?? I love you more than you could ever imagine, Otis xx_

____

Otis was so excited for her, but his hands were steady as he replied.

____

_Two things. She said somebody was inspiring me to get good grades in romantic literature haha, and she knows how you love to spend time in the library, unless of course you're with me. Think library. Oh and she knows we're together and thinks we are perfect for each other. More later I LOVE you xx_

_____ _

She could have killed him right there and then with her hatchet for not saying more. But actually she could wait the few hours until school was out. She knew she could spend hours just thinking about him and not some boring old library.

_____ _

_OK Milburn see you later. Oh, have I already told you I love you like crazy? Now dreaming of kissing you xx_

______ _ _

On the lawn he told her all about his conversation with their favourite English teacher and she smiled sweetly as she heard Ms Sands had worked out that she, Maeve Wiley, had inspired him so much. She loved him like mad, and hated every moment they were apart, but nothing could stop her now as she rushed off to the media center to get her application to the library sent off.

______ _ _

Ms Sands also had some more news for Maeve, which she had held back on in her conversation with Otis. Tomorrow after school, she thought, would be a good time to tell her.

______ _ _

Otis also hated being apart from his sweet new girlfriend, but he understood why she needed to get that application off.

______ _ _

______ _ _


	9. What could be better than a letter and an essay award?

Emily Sands opened the letter with trembling hands. It was from the regional newspaper and she knew what the gist of it would be.

_Thank you for the entry to the essay competition which you sent in on behalf of your 6th form student Maeve Wiley. We are delighted to inform you that she has won first prize. A cheque for £25,000 will be sent to you so you can present it to her within the next 2/3 days. Congratulations once again to your extraordinarily talented student, and to you for bringing her up to such a high standard._

__

_Sincerely ........_

__

Ms Sands needed to pinch herself to convince herself she wasn't dreaming. But the truth was there in black and white, and Maeve Wiley, who had been through such extremely hard times could look forward to something she really deserved.

__

She phoned Otis with the news and asked if he would like to tell her, or should she.

__

There was a silence when Otis heard the news, and Ms Sands swore she could hear his phone clattering to the floor. She smiled warmly and was so happy for them both.

__

Otis could hardly compose himself and just blurted out "Oh Ms Sands this is the most amazing news ever. I'll tell her."

__

"You're very welcome, Otis. Just so you know, I sent one of her A* essays in to the newspaper on her behalf. She doesn't even know and I'm sure she hasn't even heard about the competition. Her mind has been on other things recently. I'll let you get the news to her now."

__

He was gone without even saying goodbye.

__

__

Maeve's phone rang and she picked up immediately.

__

"Hi, dickhead."

__

She usually only got a text from him early in the day, just to tell her that he loved her if there was no other news. This was a surprise and she adored hearing his voice.

__

Otis could hardly contain himself, but the strength he had gained from loving her and having his love returned enabled him to make some kind of sense as he spoke.

__

"Hello, Maeve. Are you sitting down?" 

__

"Yes." She sounded worried.

__

"Don't worry Maeve....."

__

His reassuring tender tones immediately put her at ease and she smiled her prettiest smile.

__

"Ok Otis, I'm fine. What is it?"

__

"........Ms Sands has contacted me. She entered one of your A* essays in a competition in the regional paper, and Maeve, you have come up trumps."

__

"What?"

__

"Your essay won, Maeve. Congratulations!"

__

She said flatly, "Oh, one of those trophy cup-type things I suppose. Let me tell you right now dickhead, your essay trophy and the letter you sent with it mean so much more to me than a boring prize from some paper or other. I love you."

__

Otis's heart skipped a beat, "I love you back a thousand times over...... but listen Maeve. First prize isn't a trophy. In the next couple of days a cheque for £25,000 will be in the post to Ms Sands. You are sitting down, right?"

__

Silence. 

__

Otis wasn't at all worried by the silence. He was just trying to picture her beautiful face as the news sank in.

__

After what seemed like an eternity.....

__

"How much?"

__

"You heard it right first time my sweetheart."

__

He didn't give a damn if "sweetheart" sounded so old fashioned, it was right, just right.

__

__

She loved it too. Coming from anyone else, she'd have told them to fuck off in no uncertain terms. But coming from her stupid dickhead it was the sweetest music ever.  
"Oh, Otis! Just imagine what I can get for the caravan!"

__

Otis smiled and quoted straight back. "You can have more expansive expectations than a table and four chairs and some big windows."

__

Silence.

__

"I love you Maeve, but I really have to go. See you in the lunchbreak and we can talk about this."

__

"OK, dickhead, Byeee"

__

Not only had she fallen head-over-heels in love with the most amazing guy ever, her luck seemed to be changing so dramatically that it just made her dizzy with sheer delight. She just had to remember that breathing was rather important to stay alive. She could swear she'd forgotten how to do it.

__


	10. Money

"Are you excited, Maeve?"

"Otis Milburn I always get excited when you sit down next to me."

She stuck her tongue out at him and grinned, but she knew he was talking about the essay prize.

"The feeling's mutual, Maeve." He flashed those blue eyes at her and she felt she wanted to eat him whole.

"Has it sunk in yet about winning all that money?"

"I know my essays are prizewinning material, Otis. I have an award on my table that some dickhead or other stole for me. And I move it to my bedside table when I go to bed, so a part of you is always there for me." She looked deep into his eyes and put on yet another unique smile that he'd never seen before.

"There's no room on your bedside table for an award, what with all that feminist literature piled up on it." He smiled wickedly and she thought, how does he DO it? And she dug him in the ribs playfully.

"There are so many things I can get for the caravan now, Otis. Just about everything needs replacing."

"Maeve?"

She knew that tone. It was serious, but by no means intrusive or discomforting. But she could read him almost as well as he could read her now, and she waited for a question that would need an answer that wasn't so easy to put into words. But she was so at ease with him that that was becoming much less hard to do.

"What is it, Otis?" She looked at him, giving him her undivided attention.

"Can you lend me a fiver until payday?"

Her face brightened up and she howled with laughter. She collapsed on to his shoulder and tears ran down her cheeks. Tears of sheer joy and adoration. God he was so perfect.

Then he made a comment.

"You're by far the smartest person in this school, Maeve, and Ms Sands was right. You can have more expansive dreams than just a table and four chairs. And because of the life you've had, you can't think to the future because you've had little or no chance to do so. In some ways, my lovely Maeve Wiley, you're still so naive."

It was a kind of gentle criticism but she knew she could take it from Otis, because he'd never ever want to hurt her. Her face had that serious look again, but she wasn't scared of what might come next. She opened her mouth to speak, but he held up his hand, motioning for her to pause and just listen.

"You do know, don't you, that that kind of money will get you a lovely little furnished flat and the rent would be covered for more than a year. Why does it have to be just the caravan, Maeve? A flat like that would have at least one big window in it."

He now saw her face change, as if all the lights had been turned on and she put on that distant, thoughtful look, and then that tender, loving gaze that he loved so much.

After a thoughtful few moments, she simply said, "Otis I really do need someone like you to open my eyes, give me strength and inspire me to greater things. You know I love you so much, dickhead. What you said would never, never have occurred to me. I really do need to be able to look to the future and what it could bring."

Otis kissed her cheek tenderly and added. "Jakob knows lots of places here. He's been to so many houses and flats with vacancies. No pressure, Maeve. Let's just enjoy the fact that you don't have to turn every penny over before thinking of getting something you want........ and hey, maybe you could even lend me a tenner for that lovely bouquet of red roses I saw earlier."

She broke into her loveliest huge smile and before she hugged him tightly, she told him what he knew already. "I know I have you, dickhead, and money is totally meaningless because I know you love me."

Her laughter filled his heart with the most amazing feelings of absolute joy and affection.


	11. Courage

"Congratulations , Maeve. We're all so proud of you!"

"Thanks Ms Sands. It was nice of you to think of me and enter my essay for the competition. I had no idea what was going on. I had some stuff to deal with, but things are looking much better now. And thank you for getting me up to prizewinning standard in class."

"You're an excellent student, Maeve. You'll go far. And I hear there's someone in your life now who can help you as well." 

Maeve blushed and replied, "Otis and Aimee have been really great. Don't know what I'd do without them."

"I think it's not so much me but your boyfr...... um... your good friend Mr Milburn who has been so supportive. It seems to have gone both ways, I'm really impressed with his essays."

Maeve smiled and remembered lying in his arms as he "supported" her on the hill.

"Anyway Maeve we're planning a presentation of the cheque to you in assembly on Friday, and it would give you the chance to read your winning essay on stage so everyone can hear what a beautiful writer you are."

"Sure, Ms Sands. Great. I'd be happy to."

"Look forward to it, Maeve. See you in class."

What had she just done?? She'd casually agreed to read her essay in front of the whole school without a second thought? She HATED stuff like that. But she realised that somebody very close to her heart had given her the strength and courage to do just that! 

She called him right there on the spot.

"Hi, Maeve."

The words came out at lightning speed and he wondered what had made her so excited. "There's going to be a presentation and I have to read my essay out in front of the whole school and I agreed to do it without thinking twice about it and.... and.... and....."

Otis knew, as only he could know, that something had given her the courage to take on a task that would have mortified her only a few weeks ago. His chest swelled with an immense sense of pride . His Maeve was so hyped up, not with anger and hate, but with excitement at the challenge of a task that would have scared most of her peers.

"Hey Maeve will you let me get a word in edgeways here?" 

She knew that to anyone else, he sounded strict and overpowering, but she also sensed the smile and the intense love and affection in his beautiful voice as he made it clear that he was so proud of her.

Her heart swelled and felt it was about to burst out of her chest as she felt the sound of his voice doing the most amazing things to her mind and her whole being.

"Do it, Maeve. Give it your alltime best and wow them all!"

"Thank you, you stupid amazing sweet dickhead. I so need those arms around me now."

"Come to my place and meet my mum."

"OK, sure!"

Maeve Wiley, this is strength and courage indeed.


	12. Hello Jean

Maeve's phone buzzed.

_Have briefed mum about not asking family questions. She's being lovely about it. Come over at 8pm? I adore you xx_

She replied, confident that she could handle anything now that she had the mental strength some idiot dickhead had given her.

_Otis you think of everything. But be careful, or you'll start OVERTHINKING stuff. See you then. Will never stop loving you xx_

She'd put on the same dress that she'd worn for dinner at Jackson's. Fuck the embarrassment of the dinner part of that evening. She held on tight to the memory of that bridge in the moonlight. Otis had matured a lot since he messed up but she still treasured that moment when her eyes and his were only inches apart.

She skipped happily to the red house on the hill on a lovely summer's evening.

The butterflies were lively in her stomach, but this wasn't nervousness she was feeling. She grinned broadly as she rang the bell.

He answered almost the moment she took her finger off the doorbell and smiled at her. His blue eyes told her everything she wanted to know. Again.

"Anybody'd think you were expecting somebody special, Otis Milburn," she teased.

He smiled, bowed, took her hand, kissed it formally and said in a very distinguished sounding voice, "So delighted to see you, Miss Wiley."

God he was perfect. He seemed to be greeting her in the way so many gentlemen greeted their ladies in the Victorian novels she'd been reading. And he seemed to _know_ what was just right for the occasion. Her first visit to meet his mum. She was his princess and she adored it. He knew she wasn't in the least bit nervous, but still whispered in her ear with a sigh, "Everything OK, Maeve?"

"No, I'm HATING it, dickhead," and she flashed that gorgeous smile that simply set him on fire.

They walked through to the kitchen where Jean was putting the finishing touches to a salade nicoise. She looked up and gave Maeve a warm welcoming smile.

"Hello, Maeve. So you're the lovely young lady that makes Otis so happy and contented. I'm so pleased to meet you."

"Hello! He does the same for me, Mrs Milburn. Nice to meet the perfect mother who has made Otis the wonderful person that he is."

Otis's heart leapt, knowing Maeve was perfectly at ease.

Jean hadn't expected this at all and blushed a bright pink. "Call me Jean, Maeve dear."

All three of them now knew this was going to be a perfect evening. They walked out onto the deck, where Maeve immediately saw the pale moon was beginning to show in the evening sky, and the North Star was already twinkling.

She looked down at the river glistening in the evening light and the green wooded hills. She made the mistake of sighing just a bit too loudly. Otis heard and dug her in the ribs. Jean smiled to herself, knowing her son was happy for all the right reasons.

Maeve didn't know her feelings inside could ever be so powerful.


	13. A night to remember

The evening couldn't have been better. Maeve knew she was in a safe place because these two were experts at what they did. They could talk about anything. Jean had made it so easy, and Otis had squeezed her knee under the table when he thought the conversation was getting a bit deep. Maeve, although she appreciated his natural kindness and consideration, took it all in her stride and chatted with Jean as calmly and as enthusiastically as if she'd been involved in a conversation at a book club about Woolf or Sylvia Plath. No subject was left unmentioned and Otis was now so sure that his mum and Maeve loved being together. In the end, Jean ended up knowing almost as much about Maeve as her son did.

And as always, if there was a short break in the conversation, Maeve and Otis kept giving each other those loving glances. When Jean had gone to the kitchen to fetch ice cream for dessert (Otis had even briefed her that Maeve wouldn't want chocolate chips) she fixed his deep blue eyes with a stare that absolutely oozed her need for what Eric would have called "hot sweaty exchanges" and whispered "I hadn't planned on going home tonight, Otis. OK if we hang out?" Her voice and gaze were so sultry he could have exploded right there on the spot.

Otis remembered their night on the hill, where the moon and the stars were shining just as brightly as on the wooded hill around his house tonight. Their sweet and tender lovemaking had forged indestructible bonds between them.

His reply made her giggle so cutely. "OK, Maeve we'll see if we can put you up on a camp bed in the shed."

Just as Jean was tactfully about to leave them and head off to bed, Maeve's hand flew to her mouth and she said, annoyed with herself, "Oh Jean, how rude of me, I almost forgot." She reached into her bag and pulled out an envelope and a little bottle. "This is for you, and thank you so much for a lovely dinner and the absorbing conversation."

Jean opened the envelope, and under the deck lights, she read what was on the card. 

To the best mum in the world, and thank you for having a son I love so very much. With love from Maeve x

The bottle was a miniature sampler bottle of perfume, exactly what Jean had been wearing when she had brushed past Maeve in the corridor at school the other day. Maeve knew about these things, even though she could never have afforded the perfume herself.

Jean gave Maeve the biggest hug ever. Was there a tear in her eye? And Otis looked on in awe and said to himself as he grinned broadly, "And she thought I was the perfect one?"

Only a few minutes later, they were on his bed. She had lifted her dress off and was straddling Otis, naked, after expertly applying the condom to his rockhard penis and slipping him inside her. She rode him slowly and rhythmically, but that rhythm rapidly sped up and grew in intensity as she now got what she'd always been craving from him. He had become so confident that Maeve could have sworn he was reaching a level of passionate lovemaking she'd never known before.. Oh no, she didn't miss Jackson at all.

They both climaxed in exquisite ecstacy, and not just once that night. 

They awoke early the next morning to sunshine and the birds singing. The night on the hill had been beautiful but had ended in a cold and shivery early dawn. This time she was snuggled up against someone she loved deeply and passionately in a cosy warm bed in a place which was home to two lovely people. Maeve wasn't religious in any way at all, but she prayed to some divine being that morning that this would never ever end.


	14. The presentation

"Don't worry, Maeve, I can check your emails on my phone while you're up on stage, just put the library application out of your mind. I've got this under control."

Her trust in him was implicit and she'd given him access to her email account. Accepting the cheque was going to be easy; that didn't worry her. But reading her essay out was making her more nervous than she'd anticipated because the whole school was going to be there.

Otis had told her to stay in a kind of bubble and not let anything in or out and just focus on one thing. He had meant well, but let's face it, he was a sex therapist and less qualified to advise on keeping calm in this sort of situation.

Jean had told her that nervousness could also be positive. You always performed better when adrenalin was flowing, and even Adam Groff had seemed to be able to read out that essay after a few hiccups at the start.

If and when the email from the library came in that morning, Otis had arranged for her friends, who now included Aimee and the girls who'd been in the library on detention, Eric and Steve and even Mr Hendricks and Emily Sands to be strategically placed around the hall, so that no matter where she looked, somebody would be able to give her a signal that the good news had come in. 

Ms Sands had also said public speakers focused on various areas of their audience so they felt they were getting their full share of the speaker's attention.

His sweetest piece of advice was for her to picture his face when she told him she loved him. That calmed her down just a little bit. Otis was always there for her and she had total confidence in him.

The announcement and the presentation of the cheque were received with loud applause, and it was Otis who signalled the arrival of the email as she was about to to get up from her seat at the back of the stage to read the essay.

As she walked the few steps to the lectern she realised the essay was at the back of the hall with Otis and her phone and her bag. How stupid. She mouthed to Mr Hendricks at the front to say she needed her bag. The message was passed by relay to Otis and he went into overdrive.  
He ran to the front, tripping over the cables on the hall floor and almost falling headlong. She giggled and just thought "Dickhead". 

It flashed through her mind that she never went ANYWHERE without her phone, oh, except that night when she had left it in Isaac's caravan while she got groceries. 

As it turned out, all she needed to do was say the first word in the title of her essay and she went into automatic mode. She knew every word of it, and she didn't need to look at her papers once. Panic over.

A brilliant performance from a perfect student.

Later, sitting on the lawn with him she told him that it was at a vital moment that she had forgotten her bag and needed him to bring it to her. All went well and she said she NEVER went anywhere without her phone, except on the night of the big quiz when she'd left it switched on in Isaac's carav.....

"WHEN??" Otis almost screamed at her.


	15. The voicemail

Maeve, although a little startled at how loud Otis's voice was, was not upset.

She remembered a psychology class a few days ago about how to deal with a person -to- person interview if the interviewee had a serious eye deficiency where one eye was looking a completely different way from the other. The solution was relatively simple. The interviewer should look either at one eye only, or focus on a point a few centimetres behind the interviewee's head so that it looked as if his attention was on the interviewee's face. The same could apply if the interviewee had had a serious facial injury, making them very unpleasant to look at.

That aside, Maeve was the greatest expert on the planet on Otis's blue eyes.........

She knew instantly when Otis almost exploded that his eyes weren't on her, and his anger wasn't directed at his girlfriend.

She knew that there'd been a voicemail for her and that Isaac had deleted it.

She also knew, and was quite cool about the fact that her sweet dickhead loved her above everything else, voicemail or no voicemail.

Otis rapidly collected himself, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her softly on the cheek.

"Sorry about that, Maeve...." his voice was soft and tender and she loved that glow she was feeling as he quickly strove to reassure her. "... My anger wasn't aimed at you."

"I know."

It took only a few seconds of clarification for everything to slip into place. It was clear that they loved each other with a trust that was indestructible, and more and more every day. But Isaac had to be confronted with this, and they both decided that they needed to go and see him together. 

Maeve loved him so much for offering to go with her to see Isaac, first to offer support and second to try and prevent her from tearing Isaac apart, first mentally, then physically. He was always there for her and she still couldn't believe it.

But that could wait. Now it was time for more pleasant things. How about using the cash for a flat? And her job was waiting for her as of the following Saturday.

Otis had just got home when his phone rang. But it wasn't Maeve. It was Emily Sands.

"Oh hi Ms Sands."

"Hello Otis. That went very well today and I'm so pleased for Maeve, and you."

There was a warm glow in her voice which rather puzzled him. He knew she was pleased, but this wasn't a formal tone of congratulation. She sounded a bit like...somebody who wasn't speaking on a teacher/student basis. It was friendly and.......affectionate??

"Yes, Ms Sands, and so good to hear she got the job at the library. Thank you so much for all you've done with the essay and your contacts at the library."

Emily Sands felt a glow that was very warm and intense creeping through her body as she listened to his voice....... and she was fascinated by his blue eyes.

"Yes, Otis, you have lots to plan together, but I know you will continue to focus on romantic literature in class. You're an excellent student, and if you need any advice on language and literature, it would be a pleasure for me to provide it, both in school and out of school time, if time permits. See you soon. Bye Otis."

And she was gone.

Otis asked himself a question that had been at the back of his mind since Ms Sands had been in contact by phone. Why did she call him first instead of Maeve? Where had she got his number from? He had certainly never given it to her. But teachers do have access to students' numbers in case of emergencies from the school records office.

But he was puzzled nevertheless.


	16. The library job

Emily Sands was in bed early that morning, trembling in the throes of the most incredible orgasm, something the like of which she'd never felt before. He had screamed at her saying she was a dirty bitch, and had uttered a string of kitchen utensils and hot and spicy Italian meals as they both climaxed in a fit of immense and intense sexual passion.

But it wasn't Colin in bed beside her naked.

It was a young man........ with deep deep, fascinating blue eyes asleep next to her....

............ She awoke from her dream and couldn't believe the ecstacy she'd felt in her sleep.........

Maeve's phone buzzed.

"Good luck in the new job, Maeve. Thinking of you, and I know you'll be brilliant. I love you more than words can say xx"

She smiled her gorgeous I Love You smile and texted back.

"Thanks dickhead. I feel so confident about this and it's all down to you and Ms Sands. She's been great and you've been brilliant. I adore you and I need you xx"

Otis's phone buzzed again and he wondered what she was going to say next.

But this text was from Ms Sands.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing and his mouth dropped wide open as he read the words, which were definitely very unprofessional, coming from her.

"Hello Otis. Would you like to chat about your next English assignment? Maybe you'll have some time as Maeve will be busy at the library today. Perhaps a coffee and a bun in my apartment?"

His fingers trembled and he shook uncontrollably but somehow managed to reply.

"Thanks for the invitation Ms Sands. Sorry, bit busy today."

Oh my god, oh my god. What was happening? The meaning of that message was so clear. He had to act. But how?? Ask his mum for advice? He definitely couldn't mention this to Maeve. He thought this would make her go ballistic and she'd never want anything to do with him again.

He had suddenly become as insecure as he used to be and he seemed to be totally lacking in confidence. A confused, muddled, introverted pathetic teenager with no spine at all.

And suddenly, and devastatingly, an impossible thought came into his mind.

What if Ms Sands had arranged the library job so Maeve would be out of the way, and she could have him to herself??

Oh my god, oh my god.


	17. A well-made decision

After some thought, Otis knew he needed to act fast, and despite his hitting an alltime low point a little earlier, he remembered some advice his mum had given him. He shouldn't always think he had to do things alone. If help was near, he should just ask for it. There was always something in a reply that he would never have thought of before.

So he went down and sat next to his mum, who was drinking coffee at the dining room table.

"What's wrong, Otis?"

So he told her about Ms Sands, that he hadn't mentioned it to Maeve as he was scared she'd ditch him and leave him broken. It all came out, and something gave him the clarity of mind to add that he hadn't deleted any of Ms Sands' texts, and he'd even had the presence of mind to record the last few conversations with her.

He was beginning to struggle for breath, so she stopped him mid sentence.

"This is so easy, Otis. I'm glad you talked, and let me tell you something, you silly boy. Maeve is a wonderful, wonderful person and she would NEVER let something like this get between you. I got to know her really well at dinner, and she's lovely. Don't you EVER think, Otis Milburn, that she will put any blame on you for this. Am I getting through?"

He sighed long and loud with relief and was so glad Maeve and his mum had got on so well.

"Yes, mum."

But, still clueless, he asked "What do we do?"

"A letter."

Otis reflected that he was rather good at writing letters. Maeve had adored his essay award letter. He was intelligent, articulate and felt he could put pen to paper, with his mum's help, of course.

So a rapidly scribbled note actually became a final draft, with just a few minor alterations. It went something like this.

"Dear Ms Sands.

In spite of all your support in recent weeks, I regret to inform you that unfortunately your text messages and telephone conversations with me have become increasingly inappropriate and by no means represent a formal communication between a teacher and a student. 

You will know what I am referring to. All communication from you has been saved in text messages, and recordings have been made of telephone calls containing information that could irreparably damage your future as a teacher.

Both my mother and her lawyer have been consulted regarding this matter. 

If we do not hear from you with your comments in the very near future, we shall have no alternative but to pass the matter on to the Board of Governors. 

Sincerely ...."

"Thanks, mum. That makes me feel quite a lot better."

And without touching his breakfast he was off to the post office to post the letter.

Maeve had had a great morning at the library (it was a half-day at work on Saturdays) and her boss had been most impressed, saying she was a natural, and had been astounded at her knowledge of literature covering an enormous range of subjects. She smiled and called Otis as soon as she got back to the caravan.

She immediately detected something in his voice that wasn't quite right and briefly but affectionately said, "Let's talk, my place, 3pm. Don't be late. And Otis, you immense dickhead, you know I love you, no matter what. OK?"

"I love you, Maeve."

But he still didn't sound right.

At 2.45 there was a knock at the door. She let him in and those blue eyes told her something was wrong. She told him quietly but firmly, and in a voice that could melt icebergs to get it off his chest. She would always be there for him.

"Wasn't this a kind of role reversal?" she said to herself.

And on the sofa with her hand gently squeezing his, he started, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

Her eyes grew bigger and wider with surprise as he showed her a copy of the letter and poured his heart out. She could see he was close to tears and when he paused occasionally, seeming to be struggling at how to put all of this into words, she squeezed his trembling hand tighter, and said "It's OK, it's OK. You're such a dickhead but I'm here for you. Always. I love you."

When he finally finished what needed to be said, he looked up at her, still with the face of a helpless little boy. His eyes had been on the floor as he'd told her all this, and even after her loving words of encouragement, he still felt insecure as she opened her mouth to speak.

His heart leapt when she gazed at him with her sweetest I Love You eyes and grinned. Did he see a hint of admiration in them too?

"Otis Milburn, you write a bloody good letter, you know that?" He knew she meant not only this one, but also the essay award letter and he felt something like pride as she said it. " And nothing, but nothing, can ever come between us, got it? What did your mum say when you told her?"

"Thanks for listening, Maeve. She said exactly what you just said about nothing ever coming between you and me."

And what he said next touched her heart, that was already bursting with pride that she'd helped him in the same way he had helped her in the past.

"She really loves you, Maeve, like a mother loves her favourite daughter."

Maeve never knew she could feel like this when she heard mother and daughter in the same sentence. It had always meant drug addict and abandoned child.

She hugged him tightly and simply said, "All better?"

"Yes, Maeve. And please forgive me for going home now. I need to update mum on this. Don't get that hatchet out."

She laughed herself silly and said "Get yourself home and fast."

Why had he ever doubted her?

A minute later, there was a knock at the caravan door. She rushed to answer, and as she opened it, she immediately recognised Police Officer Neil Maskell, the man who had interviewed Aimee on the day of the assault. 

She felt like she'd been hit like a thunderbolt when he said he needed to know if she knew the whereabouts of her brother, Sean Wiley.


	18. A text and a big bang

"Have a seat, Officer Maskell. Can I get you a cup of something?" 

This was going to be serious, but she remembered him for doing his job calmly and efficiently with Aimee, and he'd asked her in the police car on the way back to Aimee's if she was 'doing something with your fella' and replying that she didn't have a boyfriend. Aimee had chimed in and said she was in love with a boy, and that boy loved her back. A lovely warm glow filled Maeve's entire body. She didn't need to remind herself of how things had developed since that day at the police station, and that she had declared her undying love for the sweetest, most awesome, kind and caring dickhead that ever existed......and he loved her back a thousand times more.

Maskell also remembered Maeve because she had supported Aimee so wholeheartedly, encouraging her to go on with the interview after she'd wanted to leave, and thinking that this girl was going to go far along the hard road of women's support and solidarity with other women.

"No, I haven't heard anything from my brother. For all I know he could be in Russia, training to be an astronaut."

Her phone buzzed. "Let me just get this...." She didn't care if the police commissioner himself was in her caravan. A text from Otis would take priority over everything else. 

But it wasn't Otis. 

It was Jackson.

Her eyes grew wide with surprise when she read it, after at first wondering why on earth he would want to text her.

It was brief and to the point.

"Did you know Sean was back? I saw him in the hardware store as I was passing by. I couldn't help noticing that he was paying for a gas cylinder from a huge roll of banknotes. Say hi to Otis for me."

Maskell, using his powers of observation as any good police officer would, asked if something was wrong.

Without a word, she passed him the phone.

"This will be very useful, Maeve..Can I take a photo of this?"

"Sure."

A moment later, he was gone, with the cartoon-style cloud of dust billowing from his heels.

She cursed her idiot brother for ruining her mood and collapsed on the sofa, wondering what the hell would happen next. But she also knew that if anything needed solving, the policeman that had just left would do a hell of a good job.

Emily Sands opened the letter, read it, and when her hands stopped trembling enough to hit the Moordale Secondary number, she called in sick. She needed time to think and take action.

Things were moving along rapidly in the Moordale area. Maeve and Otis, using their telepathy again, had decided at exactly the same moment to confront Isaac on Tuesday morning.

But at 3am on that very morning. A deafening explosion ripped through the caravan park.


	19. An announcement and a crime scene

On Monday night, Maeve had been at Aimee's place, teaching her how to cook. They were having so much fun and Maeve had been filling Aimee in on the missing details of how she and Otis had got back together. It had got pretty late and Aimee said she could stay over. It had been a lovely distraction from any thoughts about what Sean might have been up to.

At the Birmingham drug cartel headquarters that weekend, Sean was in his boss's office getting a briefing.

"That cripple and his useless brother have been trying to muscle in on our territory in that godforsaken dump east of Cardiff. Deal with them both."

Sean looked back at his boss.

"Deal with them?"

"You heard, Wiley. Make sure they don't live to muscle in on any of our other operations in the area."

Sean understood.

He went down to Moordale and headed for the hardware store, without so much as a word to his sister. And in the dead of Monday night he placed the cylinder he'd bought next to the cylinder by Isaac's caravan. He planned to set the timer on the small explosive device taped to one of them for two minutes, giving him time to get away to a safe distance. 

He grinned to himself. He'd really be going up in the cartel world if he pulled this off and was greedily thinking about his bonus.

But there must have been some underlying nervousness in his system somewhere, because he mistakenly set the timer to two seconds instead of two minutes. Three young men's lives were snuffed out instantly. But miraculously little damage was done to the neighbouring vans.

Maeve and Aimee went to school the next morning in a taxi, which Maeve could now afford to pay for. In assembly it was announced that, for personal reasons, Ms Sands had decided to resign her post as head of the English department. The Chair of the Board of Governors briefly announced on stage that they all wished her the best for the future at a teaching post in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

There were gasps from all around the hall but Maeve and Otis, sitting side by side, didn't seem to be surprised at all. Otis rushed off to class, and Maeve, who now had the first period free as there was nobody there to teach the aptitude scheme, decided to text Jean to update her.

But for some reason, she'd switched her phone off. Hmmm, she'd been a bit careless with her phone recently. She switched it on and up popped a voice message from Officer Neil Maskell. 

"We're sorry to inform you that there's been an incident at the caravan park. It seems you were not at home when three lives were lost in a gas cylinder explosion.... including your brother Sean's. Our condolences to you ....and please contact us when you feel ready."

Maeve ran like a 100m sprinter to get a taxi home and when she got there, she saw the still smoking wreckage of Isaac's caravan immediately and that the neighbouring caravans had suffered very little damage. Hers had been blackened by smoke, but was otherwise intact, as was Cynthia's. The fire brigade, police and a forensics unit were still there and an ambulance was just leaving, carrying the bodies of the three young men.

She just stood there outside her caravan, rooted to the spot, staring at the smoking wreck and a thought entered her head. She's had so much dumb luck with her boyfriend, but dumb luck could sometimes be bad luck too.

She texted Otis to tell him there was no rush to go and see Isaac that day.


	20. A change of scenery and an appointment

Maeve decided she wouldn't want to look at that still blackened and burned area outside her window, even if the wreckage had been cleared away. With Jakob's help, she and Otis had found exactly the flat she was looking for. It was furnished, had a medium-sized kitchen, a small bathroom with a shower, not a tub, a living room with a dining area in the corner, and a cosy bedroom with a queen-size bed. But best of all, and she could have hugged Jakob for this, if you went out onto the second-floor balcony, you had an amazing view of the river below and the wooded hills around, and if you turned to the left and stretched your neck without too much discomfort, you could see that red house that two of the people she loved most called their home.

With stuff like this to add to her already huge motivation, she was in the new place within 10 days, and could easily afford a removal firm to pack and move her belongings. There would be a housewarming to look forward to as well. Maeve grinned to herself, knowing that a certain perfect dickhead and his mum had changed her attitude to small house parties.

Having breakfast with Otis and Jean one sunny morning out on the deck, Jean looked at Maeve seriously, and asked her a question that Otis would have hesitated to ask, even though he knew they could share everything.

She took Maeve's hand and with a kind, understanding look on her face, she put the question to her.

"Maeve, dear, I already know that you're a strong, proud, independent young lady, but are you strong enough to face ..... "

Maeve had the confidence to face almost anything, and she knew she could rely on Otis to help her whenever she needed it.

"Just about anything, Jean."

Jean continued, still looking serious and directly into Maeve's brown eyes, "...to face going to identify your brother in the coming week?"

Maeve's face grew deadly serious but she replied quickly, and calmly, "I have Otis and you, Jean. You're both so kind and supportive. Who else would I possibly need to help me with this?"

Jean squeezed her hand and smiled. 

"Maeve, it's so lovely to hear that, but neither Otis nor I am qualified to provide expert advice here. Of course you have our support whenever you need it. But Maeve, I believe in getting expert help if it's available, and through my work I have more than one contact with professional counsellors who specialise in bereavement and trauma. I could get you an appointment in 24 hours if need be."

Maeve replied after just a brief moment of thought to analyse this new information and she considered her options at lightning speed. With a smile growing on her face she replied, "I absolutely LOVE talking to experts and picking their brains. They can provide insights I'd never have thought of and I'm like a sponge that soaks up new ideas, and the more complex, the better. So yes, I'm open to that, Jean, but it's not a case of needing a professional in 24 hours. Thanks ever so much, you're brilliant!"

Otis could only wonder at this. He thought he knew Maeve and could read her like an open book. It was amazing now to see her brain work and her lightning reactions to new and challenging ideas. She was PERFECT, she was smart and she was HIS, and so in love with him as well.

"Fantastic, Maeve!" was all he could say, but she knew his intricate mind and there was so much behind that two-word reaction.

Jean said she'd get an appointment set up in the next few days.

Maeve added that she'd be perfectly happy to go alone if Otis was busy on the day of the appointment.

So in two days from that exchange of ideas on the deck, she was buzzing at the door of Dr James Marshall's practice. She was shown in by a friendly receptionist and was asked to take a seat in the waiting room. Dr. Marshall would be with her in a few moments.

There was only one other person sitting in the waiting room.

It was Ruby Matthews.


	21. Was this really a therapy session?

"Well, this is a surprise."

Did Ruby say that? Or was it her, thinking out loud?

She hardly had time to react. It would, of course, have been an unpleasant reaction, but before Maeve knew what to think, or say, Ruby said, sympathetically, "Hello, Maeve, I'm so sorry for your loss."

Ruby hadn't called her Cockbiter, and on top of that, there was sympathy. Honest, sincere sympathy in her voice. 

OK, Ruby had heard about the explosion. It had travelled rapidly through the grapevine that Sean Wiley, Maeve's brother, had been killed in a tragic incident at the caravan park. But Maeve Wiley was flabbergasted.

She did manage to say "Thank you, Ruby, and, seeing as you're here, you have a loss to deal with too?"

"Yes, Maeve. It's my dad. He had MS, and then had a stroke that he didn't survive. Mum is totally distraught, and.... well.... I'm not feeling too good either."

"Oh, I see. My sympathies, Ruby."

And then, they hugged.

Ruby had been to see Dr Marshall's partner in the practice, and was just waiting for some paperwork when Maeve arrived. And then, Dr Marshall himself entered the waiting room.

"Ah, Maeve, do come through."

Before Maeve walked into Dr Marshall's office she said a quick goodbye to Ruby, and she just wasn't sure what to think. Just "Where was the rage?"

When she had taken a seat, and pleasantries had been exchanged, during which Marshall had said what a good therapist Jean was and that he was happy to help somebody Jean was very fond of, Marshall started his usual introduction to a therapy session.

"What can I do to help?"

Maeve almost giggled as she remembered the way Otis always started his sessions. Marshall also had deep blue eyes. Hmmm.

Seeing her little smile Marshall revealed to Maeve that consultations like this didn't normally start with a smile. "Are you having difficulty showing what really is wrong and covering everything with a smile, as if nothing had happened?"

"Nope."

Maeve felt her confidence soaring. She knew she was on solid ground now and leaned forward, ready to make a few simple comments and fire off her first questions. 

Marshall leaned back and said, "Ok. It looks like you are quite happy to start the ball rolling."

She knew Jean had already briefed him on the case and without any trace of sadness or confusion or downright helplessness, she began.

"There were times when I thought Sean was the funniest guy I knew and yes, I was fond of him. But he made no contact when he came back the other day. Not a word. I only heard by text message that he was in town. And this wasn't the first time he abandoned me. Dr Marshall, he's a bastard. I'm not here because I'm distraught with grief. I want to ask about what the identification procedure is. He'll be burned beyond recognition, won't he. If I had any feelings for him now, I'd be very upset at seeing him in that state. But he's just a charred corpse, isn't he."

"Well, Maeve. The identication process will be short and simple if you can see any distinguishing marks on his body, which, by the way, wasn't burned totally beyond recognition."

"He's missing the little toe on his left foot."

"That will help immensely, Maeve."

"Good. So we have 50 more minutes. Ok if I pick your brains a bit?"

"By all means, Maeve."

Marshall was a cool professional, but he had to admit he'd never seen anyone like Maeve Wiley before. He was then bombarded with a series of smart questions on how he could help solve problems, on the job in general, and how he felt when some of his patients couldn't do anything with his advice and ended it all. 

And all the while, she seemed to be scrutinising him and making mental notes on his responses.

As the hour came to an end, he felt like he had been thoroughly grilled, even though he was also on very solid ground while he responded. This extremely smart young lady had taken in everything he'd had to say, understanding it all without him needing to repeat or clarify anything.

As she left, he offered her another appointment for after the identification process so he could help with anything that may have troubled her. There was such a thing as delayed awareness of reality.

"Fine, Dr Marshall. I look forward to grilling you again sometime soon."

This had not been a facade built to cover grief. Maeve had enjoyed the session and was dying to learn more.

Otis knew she was fantastic, so clever, and ready to learn anything new whenever she got the chance. But if he'd been there, his mouth would have been open wide in astonishment as Maeve completed her "mission".

Doc Marshall was by no means exhausted, but he did appreciate his coffee break, feeling he somehow needed it.

Maeve also knew on the way home that she and the awful Ruby had bonded over a shared experience of bereavement. And she knew her interactions with her in the future would not be overly friendly, but much more positive than negative nevertheless.

This was only the start of Maeve Wiley's rapid rise to sheer genius level.


	22. Knowledge and dreams

Now that her mind was free to start thinking of other things, Maeve started to take interest in a huge variety of subjects. She loved her literature almost as much as she loved Otis, but she was branching out, and working in the library gave her not only access to an almost endless supply of fiction and non-fiction, but she could also talk to so many interesting people who came in to borrow books, or just to browse, or sit in the reading room, sheltering from the summer rain.

Otis saw her on her balcony in the sunshine one afternoon checking through a mountain of books and academic papers, the content of which would never have interested her only a few months ago.

Why did enormous planes stay up in the air, and huge supertankers stay afloat? What exactly did infinity minus 1 mean? How did ugly caterpillars turn into beautiful butterflies? 

There were so often people she could ask, and she realised more and more, that when she opened up and asked questions, she'd make contact with fascinating people who had the keys to huge and wonderful sources of knowledge. Her life had seemingly consisted of anger, hate, loneliness and pain for what seemed like forever.

She'd asked Viv from the quizheads about combustible gases, for obvious reasons, and her brain soaked up her answer, where anybody else's eyes would have glazed over after the first line, blinded and bored stiff by science.

"The optimal LPG combustion mix is 4% by volume. So if we take a typical small caravan of 5.4m by 2.1m by 2.3m then that's 26,000 litres air volume, and 4% of that is about 1000 litres. LPG expands by a factor of 270 when converted from liquid to gas, so that's 3.8 litres of LPG, or a canister of about 2kg.

"A typical caravan LPG canister is about 4.5kg, so if you leaked half of it into a small caravan (or all of it into a large one) assuming no leakage you'd be ripe for a pretty big explosion that might take out the surrounding area. "

Otis was starting to worry that she'd focus more on all this untapped knowledge than she did on him. But he immediately dismissed the idea as ludicrous when she told him that, although she was so smart, there were so often occasions when Otis came out with a blindingly simple solution to things that never would have occurred to her.

Otis had simply told her you couldn't know everything about everything, and that's why people with varying fields of interest complemented each other so well.

She just looked at him one morning in bed with her I Love You eyes and whispered, "You're such a clever dickhead too, but you will never, never know, not even the tiniest fraction, of how deep and strong my love is for you, Otis."

She expected a gaze from his deep blue eyes and a tender, loving answer that only he was capable of giving.

He just grinned wickedly and replied, "I'm always, always willing to learn, Little Miss Happy."

She burst out laughing, yet again, at his incredible ability to turn a reply she expected, which was always so sweet, into a response that would never even have crossed her mind. And when she had stopped laughing, he took her beautiful face in his hands, then ran his fingers through her long brown hair, looked deep into her eyes (Oh my god he's giving me THAT look) and kissed her lips softly and tenderly. 

She immediately responded. 

And of course, they ended up getting up three hours after they'd intended to.

"Everybody always keeps letting me down!!" she screamed. 

Otis woke with a start the next day and he knew as she froze and then shook violently in bed next to him that she was having another nightmare. Her eyes opened wide in sheer horror, her face distorting into that twisted, terrified look. He held her tight and soothed her yet again. 

"Shh, Maeve. It's OK, it's OK. I'm here for you. Always. I love you."

And that had the desired effect. Her face almost instantly transformed as she snuggled up close.

"I'll never get anything like this, or like you, from any stupid book. I love you, dickhead. For always."

Would there ever be a therapist who could rid her beautiful brain of these nightmares, which had had their deep-entangled roots inside her for so many years?


	23. The doc could help

The identification of Sean's body was unpleasant, but Maeve had been well prepared, and Otis had come to hold her hand. From behind a glass wall, the body had been obscured to prevent the worst disfigurations from being seen, and only the relatively unburned left side of his face and his left foot were exposed. Yes, the little toe was missing, and she nodded as soon as she saw his face, as Otis gently squeezed her hand. He was doing remarkably well here because they were side by side. Both felt absolutely invincible because they were together, and that was all that mattered. 

Maeve thanked Jean and Doc Marshall in her thoughts, and thanked Otis from the bottom of her rapidly beating heart for being there for her. If it was humanly possible, this had brought the two of them even closer together, and neither wanted to ever leave the other's side, ever again.

So there were two chairs waiting at the other side of Marshall's desk when the post-identification appointment took place. Otis was to Maeve's left, as he'd requested, because he'd whispered to her in the waiting room that that was where he wanted to sit, as close to her heart as possible. Maeve, as she'd already done hundreds of times before, felt her heart melt at this little gesture of undying affection, which she had never even thought of before. He'd done it again. She normally wouldn't give a shit whether two empty chairs would influence her decision as to which one she'd want to be seated in. When he also said she'd been to his left in the biology lab that day, she marvelled at how he could remember a little detail like that, and her heart overflowed with deep, indestructible love for him. But as her heart had leapt, she was in control and wasn't about to break down like she had on the way back from their night on the hill. But a very brief, almost despairing look, just like when she was walking home from the clinic with him was about to appear on her face. It didn't. She'd been a hair's breadth away from breaking down the instant before she glanced to her right and had seen the flowers. And oh my god she'd been on his left then too. He was close to her heart physically on that beautiful summer evening walk back to her place, too, but oh so far away from them being together finally. Again her beautiful mind almost screamed at her, "Why oh why had it taken so long??"

This time it was Otis who had asked to speak first. "Dr Marshall, this wonderful, brave girl by my side has done so well in dealing with all of this, thanks to you and my mum, but also thanks to her own incredible strength at a time like this."

Maeve knew her strength in almost all situations had come from this unique, caring, brilliant, sweet dickhead beside her. And she gave him a little smile as soon as she realised, yet again, that he was in his element at times like these, dealing with people's emotions and problems. And another flashback entered her mind. "We're really good together," rang clearly in her ears as she remembered the school dance.

Otis continued. "But Doc, I need your help as much as Maeve does, because I'm the one who wakes up next to her when she screams in those awful nightmares. Is there any possible solution to this? Because I know that people still dream of stuff that happened even fifty or more years ago, no matter what the content of the dream is. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the few months of happiness she has felt since we knew we were right for each other, cannot make up for years of angst........"

Again Maeve felt that incredible glow in her heart, remembering when they'd talked about her essay being filled with existential angst that only she could bring into her work about dreams that day by the lockers. She repeated her thoughts as she'd heard him then blissfully to herself. "He knows me so well."

"..... of angst and constant sheer anger and pain. How can she balance that happiness against so much turmoil in her subconscious?"

Marshall knew that sitting opposite him was another highly intelligent human being, and that together they made a formidable team.

Maeve didn't add anything, simply because Otis had said it all, in his own expert way.

"You, young man, are exactly the right person for your young lady. Don't you ever let her go."

Maeve did then open her big mouth. "If he does, he knows I have a hatchet and I know a good place to hide a body."

They all laughed. The doc, even though he'd had so many years of experience, had never had a session that was interspersed with such good-natured smiles and laughter.

"My turn now, if Maeve will permit?"

"Go ahead Doc Marshall, and this better be good."

More grins.

"Hypnotherapy."

Now it was Maeve and Otis's turn to almost gape in amazement.

"If, Maeve, you are suited to this kind of treatment, it has been known to help, but there is no 100% guarantee that it would eradicate every bad dream because the human brain is so vast and intricately complex."

Maeve again recovered in an instant and blurted out, "Complex female characters."

She at first doubted very, very much if she could subject herself to a hypnotherapist taking control of her mind. Anybody who tried to take control of Maeve Wiley would be torn apart in a manner which could not be printed here. But.... and the realisation dawned on her like a light being turned on, that she could also focus, extremely well, and if she were to focus on her boyfriend whispering to her and tenderly soothing her out of her distress after a nightmare, ("Always here for you. Always. It's OK, it's OK, I love you.....) then she'd become so dreamy and relaxed that she'd be under in seconds.

"Let's give it a go, Doc Marshall."

On the way home, Otis turned to her and asked her how she felt the appointment had gone. "That went rather well, didn't it, Little Miss Happy?"

She kissed him and said. "This time an incredibly stupid dickhead showed that he had the situation completely in his hands. And in situations like these I know I can put my idiot self totally, but totally, under his control. I've read so much romantic literature, dickhead, but I still haven't found a different way to say I Love You the way I do. I love you like crazy, Otis."


	24. Education! And a small child

The next day Maeve went to the head's office to sign up for some new courses. Her thirst for knowledge had been getting more intense by the minute. She'd chosen Chemistry to add to Biology, which she was already doing (Oh, Otis and the lab..........), Greek and Roman History, and Politics.

While she was waiting for the forms to be printed, she saw a tall, slim woman, maybe in her mid twenties enter the office. Maeve thought her eyes looked vaguely familiar.

The forms were filled in and she'd be starting the new courses in a week. Her mind was crystal clear as she left. She was pretty sure she knew who that slim lady reminded her of.

Next morning at assembly the new headteacher was presented to the school by the Chair of the Board of Governors. She'd also be taking over the aptitude scheme. She was highly qualified after completing several years as a Deputy Head at a secondary school in Edinburgh. At twenty-seven years old she was unusually young for the position of head teacher and the gasps from all those present were heard throughout the hall when her name was announced. Maeve knew where she'd seen someone with very similar eyes and mannerisms before.

It was Felicity Groff, Adam's diligent and intelligent sister. 

Groff had repeatedly told Adam he should be more like his perfect sister instead of being a useless idiot. Adam was away on a training course. He'd planned to become a dog trainer, specialising in obedience and agility. Groff senior, on suspension from his post as head, was focusing on gardening.

At the library, Maeve had been offered a full-time job starting in the summer holidays, which she eagerly accepted. Otis had been texting her regularly on Saturday mornings, making her giggle at the front desk, which got her some funny looks from the visitors, and one morning she had hugged him so tightly when he dropped in around ten with a sandwich for her coffee break, as she'd forgotten to pack one before work. (Oh, Otis......... tender loving care and a sandwich.....) She melted yet again, filled with an insatiable desire, wanting to drag him off into the stock room and have her wicked way with him. 

That desire was shared later that Saturday in her new queen-size bed.

At work, she'd got talking to Dr Harrison, a writer with a PhD in English. They immediately discovered they had so much to talk about and had arranged to meet at Dr Harrison's home on Sunday afternoon for tea. Maeve's "gentleman friend" would be more than welcome to come too. Harrison was immediately taken by his cheerful chatter and she thought to herself that these two were perfect for each other.

They arrived that Sunday afternoon and were given a warm welcome. Otis immediately felt at ease with the lady writer, who asked if they didn't mind if a little girl playing with her dolls in the garden was there for the afternoon too. 

The lady writer was looking to adopt a young child as she'd lost hers in a tragic car accident. The little girl was there for a play day to finally confirm that she and her prospective parent and guardian would get along with each other well enough for the adoption to go through. Otis and Maeve both sympathised and hoped the adoption process would work out well.

No worries, they had both replied. Maeve loved kids, and Otis did too, even though he was a bit of a shit babysitter..........

Dr Harrison led them both out into the garden to say hello.

Maeve and Otis stopped dead in their tracks when their eyes fell upon the cute little three-year old.

It was little Elsie.


	25. A sister's return

Dr Harrison's eyes nearly popped out of her head when Maeve rushed to pick Elsie up and hug her tightly. There was a huge smile from Elsie as she recognised her sister and she giggled sweetly. Maeve just poured out her love for her sister in that hug and something deep inside told her she didn't need to explain what was going on. Otis would have things covered.

Otis took a second, or even less, to assess the situation after the initial shock and act accordingly. 

"Leave this to me, Maeve, I've got this. Trust me. I love you."

He did what he did best smoothly, efficiently and perfectly, as if he'd been taken over by some super power that was showing him precisely how to get this right.

He took the lady writer gently by the arm and rapidly told her what was happening, because if he had acted less promptly, Sarah Harrison might have thought Maeve was trying to kidnap little Elsie.

Calmly and concisely he explained.

"Elsie is Maeve's sister. She was taken by Social Services some months ago. Maeve had reported her mother because Elsie was at risk. Their mother was using drugs after lying about being clean again. Please don't worry, Dr Harrison. This won't affect the adoption at all. We'll explain everything presently, and excuse me if I may have sounded a bit abrupt. I needed to act quickly."

There was something about Otis's handling of this that inspired Dr Harrison to trust him, and trust him completely. He was working his magic on her too. Maeve told him later that she knew he could deal with this as only he could. He was just amazing. 

He was always there for her when she needed him. There were times when they acted as a formidable team, times when Maeve knew what to do best and react at lightning speed, and times when Otis was the master of the situation. This time Otis had stepped up and handled the matter flawlessly.

So flawlessly in fact, that the lady writer dealt with her initial shock rapidly, and put two and two together. She was by no means stupid.

"Oh, so Social Services put her up for adoption and I was the lucky one..... Otis, I've only known you for five minutes, but you have an amazing gift for dealing with a sensitive situation and I respect you immensely for it. Maeve has found someone truly wonderful in you."

And through her emotion, Maeve nodded in total agreement.

So, with the initial bombshell dealt with, Otis calmly went on to say that the afternoon would work out as planned. Maeve would let the lady writer have Elsie back after another hug or two, and they could take it in turns to fuss over her. "I'll just watch and eat cake, as I'm a hopeless babysitter."

Maeve laughed as she handed Elsie back. 

"You know Elsie loves you, Otis. I could see it when you put her back in the buggy that afternoon. "

Sarah Harrison and Elsie did seem a perfect match.

So, afternoon tea was lovely. Otis made Elsie giggle by pulling funny faces, and Maeve and Sarah even managed to talk literature.

Otis knew later that what he'd done was pretty cool. He had one beautiful brown-eyed girlfriend to inspire him and their love couldn't be more complete. 

Maeve had allowed him to take control because she trusted him fully and lovingly. She never would cease to be amazed at what he was capable of, and he had told her that just about everything he did was made so much easier because of the endless inspiration she gave him. She valued and appreciated him above all else and gave him her all-encompassing unconditional love. 

He was her perfect, stupid, introverted, clumsy, sensational dickhead.


	26. Another memorable walk home

They were walking back home as the darkness started to take over from the summer evening light and the moon was already rising.

"I'm sure Sarah will be the right mum for Elsie, Otis. And I'll be able to pop round and visit. I can babysit and take her for walks and we can play. It'll be lovely."

"They do seem to be getting along very well, and your little sis is almost as cute as you are. It must run in the family." 

He grinned as she dug him in the ribs playfully. She had fully recovered from the shock earlier.

"Are you by any chance flirting with me, Mr Milburn? I shall have to consider my response to that very carefully." And she giggled. 

Then she leaned in and kissed him softly behind his ear and whispered, "You were perfect today. When you said 'Leave this to me, Maeve, I've got this. Trust me. I love you.' I knew you'd perform your magic and be as brilliant as you always are."

Then she did something that puzzled him slightly. She took out her phone. Covering it so he couldn't see what she was writing, she texted a short message.

His phone buzzed and he read something that made him smile, his heart overflowing with love for the amazing girl at his side.

_"Thanks for today"_

__

__

The clinic, the walk home, the flowers, and the hug. The hatchet and the hiding place for a body.............

__

In perfect harmony, they both said quietly, "Why oh why did it take so long?"

__

"I'm not going to text back about a sandwich, Maeve, my battery is running low."

__

__

She collapsed in fits of laughter.

__

This afternoon had been the perfect example of two young lovers showing their infinite trust in each other. Otis had acted fast. She knew as soon as he said he had things under control that she could focus fully on Elsie and nothing else, because he'd be there for her, supporting her and reassuring her that it was going to be OK.

__

Although she'd seen his magic a hundred times before, starting at how he'd helped Adam, she would never cease to be amazed at how he had mastered all sorts of situations with such incredible expertise. 

__

She knew from the start that she wanted, and needed, to spend a lot more time just watching, his blue eyes flashing as he confidently did his thing. This was a rare talent that the "guy in the corner" had polished to sheer perfection. 

__

This time he had swiftly reassured Sarah that things would turn out fine in a few brief and precise words, and dammit, she was a great essaywriter, but he had instantly worked a miracle with a few very carefully chosen words. God, she would NEVER be able to write like that.

__

But he had also given her food for thought, again showing that he could think several steps ahead like a chess grand master where she had so often only been able to stay in the present, constantly and desperately trying to deal with stuff as her insides churned in hate and anger.

__

What he said was this. 

__

"Elsie needs a mum first and foremost. She needs to spend time alone with Sarah so things can evolve and their bonds can grow stronger, creating an ideal mother/child relationship. Please don't misunderstand me now, Maeve, but if Elsie spends too much time with you, there's a risk that she will grow to love you more than her adoptive mum. That wouldn't be ideal. This isn't meant to be condescending, but just try, even though it may be hard, to give Sarah as much time alone with Elsie as possible. This doesn't mean you shouldn't see Elsie at all, of course it doesn't. She'll love it when her favourite sis comes to call. But you won't need to do that every single day of the week. I know that maybe you haven't thought of this. You've got other things on your mind. I'd just like to be able to stand by you in times when you can't fully focus on stuff because of what's going on around you. And also point you towards the future.......

__

She could only gaze at him and her little phrase 'No therapy remember' seemed to be so meaningless now.

__

"Maeve, this is just what I feel I needed to say after you hugged Elsie so tightly today and kept her close to you for what seemed to be an age. Of course anybody would react in the same way after such a long time apart, but I think you know that I love you and care about you enough to step in and help whenever I can. If I've worded this wrongly I'm so sorry. I just want to help the most important person in my life and I love you."

__

She took in everything he said, admitting to herself that she'd never have thought of most of what he'd been trying to say. She still had this habit of only thinking about the present and she needed to start focusing more on the future. She was headstrong and downright stubborn, smart and confident, but she was so grateful that he could step in when she wasn't at her strongest and she adored him for it.

__

"Message received and understood, dickhead, and I love you too. Like crazy"

__

"Glad I got through without you booting me in the shins with those Doc Martens," said Otis "and have you ever thought you could share your vast academic knowledge by coaching students who are struggling in class? There are a lot of kids from well-off families whose parents would be perfectly prepared to pay."

__

Again he'd come up with something that had never occurred to her. She'd only thought about homework clubs at school.

__

He was more than perfect.

__

He kissed her gently on the cheek and then said something that warmed her heart and her whole being yearned to kiss him so hard. He had this beautiful gift of making gestures so effectively in a million different ways.

__

"It's getting dark, and our bridge is coming up. Would you like to stand where we stood that night and look at the stars? I promise I won't freak out this time. You mean so much to me, and I still can't believe all this wonderful stuff that's been happening. It will always be you and I love you, Maeve."

__

She was speechless with emotion and wonder at what his beautiful brain was capable of and just sighed into his ear, "I'd be delighted, Prince Charming, just hold me on that bridge and never, ever let me go."

__


	27. A history course and a perfect fit

So they stood in that exact spot, in each other's arms in the moonlight with the stars twinkling in the night sky. Otis had asked Maeve to move in just as close as they'd been on that evening and pause. She readily complied. And she knew what he wanted to do. 

They gazed into each other's eyes as the whole world fell away and the bridge had become the centre of the universe. She had moved in for the kiss on that evening before Otis broke off, but this time, with her lips two inches from his, she waited.

Both of them held that position, and neither of them knew for how long. But both of them knew for certain that they were in paradise.

Her gorgeous brown eyes were shining in the moonlight and he swore he could see the stars in them.

Maeve was constantly discovering the nuances in the shades of his amazing blue eyes as she felt the ever present butterflies, myriads of them, deep inside her trembling body. 

And this feeling, although it had been so wonderful as they walked home from Aimee's study group, had now intensified ten-thousandfold. She could have written volumes about those eyes that searched deep into her soul. They were finding something exquisitely beautiful in there tonight.

So finally it was Otis who moved in this time and the kiss was soft and tender. She had never felt anything like it. His fingers were running through her hair to the back of her head, gently stroking her neck, his hands running down her back to the base of her spine, pulling her in close as she responded, her heart racing as she entered his mouth with her tongue and explored him passionately. She sighed into his open mouth and whispered I Love You, Oh my god I love you over and over again as he told her so sweetly that he still couldn't believe she was his, to keep, forever.

Both broke away at exactly the same moment and at the same moment their hands dropped. Her fingers interlaced with his as they gazed at each other in wonder, her forehead leaning tenderly against his. Their hands tightened their grip on each other before she pulled him in for another earthmoving kiss.

There on the bridge, they wanted time to stand still, but they also wanted it to move on from there just a little so those kisses could continue in her new flat in that cosy queen-size bed.

Little Miss Happy could never have been happier. 

It had got pretty late and Otis had to go home because he needed stuff for school the next morning, but thankfully not too early. His new history course started at 9.45am.

Maeve had her first Chemistry class at 11am. It was late but after Otis had left she excitedly had a quick look at what tomorrow's topic would be. Hmm, Nitrous Oxide, the stuff dentists used to use before more modern local anaesthetics were developed, more commonly known as laughing gas. 

Maeve giggled. Otis was so good at making her laugh, why would she ever need gas to do the job? She did admit to herself, though, that Otis wouldn't be able to do the job if she needed a tooth pulled. Her features darkened momentarily though, when she thought of the full anaesthetic at the clinic............but she had learned recently to think much more positively as she now had some wonderful friends. A warm glow and a sandwich-text smile raised her spirits as she remembered the kindest, most caring, most considerate and the sweetest person in the whole world waiting there for her with those flowers as she came out into the waiting room.

Before she left for school the next morning she called Jean, when she knew Otis would have already left.

"What's Otis's chest size?"

Jean Milburn smiled and joked, "You ought to know, Maeve. You seem to spend most of your time with your arms round him."

Maeve giggled, and her guess was pretty close at two inches below his actual size.

"Good guess, Maeve dear. Since he's been with you, his chest seems to have expanded. It's swelled with pride at capturing a heart of pure gold." 

Maeve wasn't used to hearing anything remotely like this, and she loved it.

"Thanks, Jean, can't tell you any more at the moment. I want to surprise him. See you later."

And she was gone. She had a mission to carry out after school.

More good news for the girl who deserved it so much came at school soon after she arrived. Checking her new Greek and Roman History schedule, she was overjoyed to see Otis's name on her group list for a four-week module they would be sharing on Julius Caesar and the Roman roads in Britain from 56BC to 100AD. She hated every second they were apart and now she could spend the history module with him, and no doubt, they'd be on projects together, also involving doing homework with him on his deck or her balcony.

Time flew, they met briefly at lunch to talk excitedly about the history project, and she asked him to come to her place at 5pm instead of 4pm after school as she had some stuff to get in town.

"I got something for you."

Waiting for him on her kitchen table when he arrived was a large paper carrier bag bearing the logo of a leather store in town.

He opened it in total surprise and pulled out a biker-style black leather jacket.

"I love it when I can see you coming towards me in your tricolour jacket, Otis, but there's no harm in changing things every now and then." 

She helped him into it quickly.

"Wow, it's a perfect fit, Maeve."

And as he checked it out in the mirror, he decided he really liked it.

Maeve put on a deadpan, almost bored look and asked if she should take it back and try and find a blue, beige and red jacket instead.

He saw through that look in a flash and grinned broadly.

"Who's the mindreader now, Maeve? You're perfect. I really don't deserve you, you know."

She took his hand and pulled him towards the sofa.

"Well," she growled like a lioness hunting her prey. "Let's make this a perfect afternoon too."

Hmmm, the lioness and the kangaroo.


	28. The positive sides

Jean picked up her phone and was about to call the police. A tall stranger in a black leather jacket had entered her kitchen, but then she looked at his face. Funny how the brain reacted to unfamiliar sights sometimes. Otis grinned and asked his mum if she liked Maeve's gift to him. Did it suit him?

"Gosh, Otis what a surprise! Yes it looks great. Suits you perfectly. And now I know why Maeve called me the other morning asking for your chest size."

Maeve grinned as she entered the kitchen. She had left it a moment, just to see how Jean would react to "biker Otis". She knew he was able to react to new situations like a professional, but was amused to see Jean reaching for her phone. Even the most experienced therapists could get rattled sometimes.

That morning hadn't been all smiles, however.

Maeve had again woken up in the throes of another nightmare, but even after the shock to both of them, she was becoming better at dealing with the after-effects with Otis by her side. He had comforted her in his own inimitable way and she loved him for it.

As she snuggled up to him she let her frustration out. "If only there was a way to stop this." 

So they decided to get Jean to arrange an appointment through Dr Marshall. 

Jean acted and within the hour the appointment had been set up. Maeve would be getting some hypnotherapy the day after next. And again her curiosity outweighed any sense of nervousness as she remembered how just the thought of Otis and his loving care could turn her all dreamy and relaxed, ready for the therapist to "do his worst" as she put it to him.

He wasn't in love with the coolest girl in the school for nothing.

Jean and Maeve laughed their heads off as Otis swung a pocket watch on a chain in front of her eyes and droned, "Look into my eyes...... You are becoming sleepy, your eyelids are so heavy and all you want to do is sleep and dream."

Where on earth had the watch come from? Another of life's little mysteries.

The appointment went smoothly after Maeve's initial excitement and adrenalin-filled grilling of the therapist because she was oh so curious.

She had gone under very soon after focusing in her beautiful mind on Otis's blue eyes and the words she would never tire of hearing as he would stroke her hair. "Shh, Maeve. It's all right. I've got this. Trust me. It's OK, it's OK. I love you deeply and endlessly, Maeve."

Maeve came to after the session feeling ever so relaxed. She'd almost snarled at the doc for telling her she could get up and make her way out. Almost. Relaxed people don't snarl, especially with dickheads like Milburn around.

The doc had also prescribed her some tablets which were used when patients always saw the negative, hard side of things. So if people or words cropped up in any context, they would be associated with very positive, pleasant and heartwarming things or experiences. "Mother" would evoke tenderness and affection, which she was getting from Jean. "Brother" would evoke memories of watching the "Blues Brothers" movie, one of her favourites for sheer good laughs. "Sean", thoughts of that incredible Bond actor Connery who just got sexier with age. "Explosion" meant the explosive spectacular fireworks displays with reflections in the river of rockets bursting colourfully. 

No side-effects and good underlying feelings with a month's supply, when taken before bed. Of course with the proviso that it wasn't a wonder drug, and bad dreams happened to all of us.

She had plenty of good feelings whenever she was with Otis and Jean, and an ever-increasing list of people whom she'd got to know through her job and her thirst for knowledge. So, wait and see.

And there was a housewarming to plan, which she could easily manage, even with the volume of extra work that was coming in from her new subjects at school.

A challenging and exciting time and always the feeling that wherever she looked, she was in good hands.

She'd even dreamed one night that Otis was going down on one knee on a starry moonlit night and was slipping a ring onto her finger.


	29. Eric, and a huge building

Maeve jumped when her doorbell rang. This was still so new as she'd always been used to a knock on a caravan door. It wasn't Otis, because he was across the table from her on the balcony. She answered the door and there was Eric.

Aww, ...... Eric. He was something special too. She'd actually been jealous of him before she and Otis got together. He was the lucky one who got to spend so much time with him. He'd also suggested free sex therapy sessions on the day of Aimee's house party..........

Eric asked if she was OK because that distant look had come into her eyes. The party, the swings, the pregnancy test leading to the abortion clinic and Otis picking her up to walk her home with those flowers........Hey, these were lovely, positive thoughts. 

"I'm fine, Eric. Welcome to my flat! Come on in."

"It looks great, Maeve. It took a while but you two got here in the end though, didn't you. I'm so pleased for you!" And he gave her a huge hug.

Otis greeted his best friend with a grin and told him they were going over arrangements for the housewarming party.

"Yes, Otis. I was passing by and saw you both on the balcony. So I decided to drop in as you weren't engaged in any hot, sweaty ....um......"

Maeve blushed and Otis said "If you'd rung the bell half an hour ago, you wouldn't have got an answer."

"Busy playing World of Warcraft, were you?"

Then........."Oh my god, Otis, that jacket is way too big for Maeve! It can't be yours, can it?"

"Maeve got it for me. You don't like it?"

"Otis! Otis!! What has she done to you? I hardly recognise you!"

"She's full of surprises, Eric!"

"Dickhead!"

Maeve was happy. Just happy to be alive.

"Bring Adam, Eric. As you can see, I've got plenty of room and we'd love to see you both."

"Maeve Wiley," Eric beamed, "I love that you're saying 'we' as if it was the most natural thing in the world!"

Otis gave Maeve that big, blue-eyed look. "We love it too."

But natural wasn't the way Sarah Harrison had been feeling about losing her own daughter. The shock from that Sunday visit from Maeve and Otis and them both seeing Elsie had given her a lot to think about. She'd consulted the adoption people at Social Services and decided to invite Maeve and Otis over again when Elsie would be asleep. She was still overwhelmed, and impressed, by the way Otis had handled things. But she felt they needed to talk about Maeve's future visits to see Elsie. 

She didn't know, however, that Otis had explained to Maeve on their way home that evening about what needed to be done, and that Maeve had agreed that Otis was right. So Sarah was nervous about discussing that with them both, whereas Maeve was so cool and confident.

Sarah invited them in and over tea and sandwiches at her dining room table the small talk was soon over. Maeve came to the point pretty quickly after she'd asked how Elsie was sleeping. Elsie had been sleeping fine. Another step on the long road to her settling in and feeling at ease.

Otis's girlfriend was back to her supremely confident self after the shock of the previous visit and started the ball rolling.

"We can still talk literature when I come over, but it'll be just like now, with Elsie well out of the way. I also have so much to do with school and organising my housewarming that I won't be able to get away. You can spend as much time as possible with her, just you two together."

Sarah seemed relieved, but she had to get one thing off her chest.

"Maeve, I saw how you hugged Elsie as if you were never going to let her go last Sunday. Can I be sure that it won't sadden you to be out of contact with her?"

Maeve, again, answered confidently and reassuringly. "I love Elsie to bits, but Sarah..... do you see this guy sitting next to me? He is my everything, just as Elsie is and will be your everything. It's not a matter of me needing to see my sister. I can deal with that just fine. I'm very happy with life at the moment, and have been since Otis and I got together. I won't feel the need to see Elsie to distract myself from pain and suffering........."

Maeve immediately associated pain and suffering with her need for a Hawaiian pizza with 3 hours to go until the pizza place opened. Those tablets were working, or was it the hypnotherapy?

"I'm in a good place, Sarah, and it's friends like you who make that good place even better. Oh, and Otis and I haven't been hanging around doing nothing since we were last here. We've been doing our homework."

Maeve grinned as she saw Sarah looking a bit confused, just like she confused Otis sometimes. Poor confused dickhead, not knowing what to expect when she'd said Aimee should be a therapist.........

"Yes, I'm sure you have a lot of school work to be getting on with."

"No. I don't mean that. Let Otis explain."

Sarah gave Otis her full attention. He was getting Maeve's attention too, as she stroked his thigh underneath the table."

"No, Sarah, it's not been school work. I'm now well prepared to tell you what you need to know, and the most amazing girl on the planet next to me has a huge thirst for knowledge. What we both now know about adoption is this."

There was a trace of a smile on Sarah's face as he calmly explained. This intelligent young man certainly knew how to keep anyone spellbound as he did what came naturally to him. Maeve, too, adored this feeling as she knew what he was going to say. It was like magic, sheer magic. Every time. 

" It is realistic to adoptive parents and adoptees that everyone should be on their best behaviour, desperate to be liked, hence the exhaustion that can come from this. That lasts several weeks and then generally the child will start testing the parent, how MUCH do you love me, even if I am naughty, kind of thing. 

"In order to form good attachments and not confuse the child it will be like a lockdown, no outside friends or relatives. This sometimes upsets people like grandparents or siblings who expect to be allowed to meet the new members of the family. You have to be quite strict......... I hope I'm not boring you"

Sarah was amazed. "Not at all! This is almost exactly what I've heard from the people at Social Services. Otis how do you DO this?"

Maeve had asked the same question tens of thousands of times. She was loving finding out the answers. She adored every bit of his beautiful being. Without question. 

All this was yet another step on the long road to a bonding between them that was stronger than tungsten steel.

Both the ladies in the room were absolutely enthralled. Sarah professionally with her PhD experience, and Maeve........ well it was him and his amazing brain. She wanted to explore that mind of his and would spend as long as it took to do that.

Otis, too, knew that he held the keys to the door in her brain marked with his name on it 

But the brain was like a huge maze in a huge building with endless twisting, turning corridors. They both wanted to walk down every inch of them.


	30. A ring with a difference

"Mail call!"

Maeve went to answer the door looking very puzzled. That voice was familiar. It sounded like Cynthia. Was she dreaming? Cynthia, Jeffery and the caravan park were in another world, a parallel universe....

It was Cynthia. And she was carrying a small package.

The day before Maeve's hypnotherapy appointment, Otis had gone into town looking for something to cheer Maeve up in case there were any nerves about her upcoming session. He had almost passed the jewellers and watchmakers when he stopped. 

What had caught his eye in the window was a watch on a chain which he thought might come in useful as a prop. Pretending to be a hypnotist swinging it in front of her brown eyes and droning monotonously like a B-movie actor was a cool idea, even if he did think so himself. And he rather fancied the idea of having a timepiece like that instead of his boring black digital watch.

So he went in and bought it. As he was paying he looked down at the rings on display in the glass cabinet which also formed part of the counter.

"Anything else?"

Otis's brain went into overdrive as he hatched a plan.

"Um... yes, there is actually. I was wondering if you could engrave something on a ring for me. What I need is a ring.......with a difference."

"Let's see what we can do for you."

The last time Maeve had seen Cynthia with a parcel could never be erased from her mind. The essay award and Otis's beautiful letter stood out as one of her most special and treasured memories.

But why Cynthia? Now?

"Tall, skinny-looking lad, very pale and sickly-looking left it for me to give to you."

Was this the present or the past?

Maeve took the much lighter package and thanked Cynthia, almost completely in a daze.

Cynthia briefly looked over Maeve's shoulder into the flat. "Looks like you got a nice place here luv. Hope you have a lovely future here. All the best."

And she was gone.

When the essay award arrived, she had been dying to open the parcel. When she saw it and read the letter, she felt she could never have such intense feelings of love for her sweet dickhead.

But what was this? She took away the wrapping. A small ring box? And a note, folded over many times to fit the base of the box, caught her eye.

Her hands trembling as she still stood in the doorway, she opened the box and saw a ring that didn't glitter, or have a stone in it, but it was just that bit shinier and more noticeable than any of her other rings. It would stand out. She smiled, again with that tender look of love in her eyes, closed the door and went to her sofa to read the note.

"No, Maeve, it's not an engagement ring. We haven't quite reached that stage ........ yet. I'm just giving you this with all my love, and I'd like to ask you something. Will you wear this on your ring finger for me for as long as we're at Moordale to show me and everyone else that you love me and that there won't be another guy?"

Maeve trembled and her eyes filled with tears. The happy, emotional tears that made her glow inside with an incredible warmth and deep, deep love. Would she even be able to finish the letter?

"I know you're a practical, brilliant thinker and maybe this thought will have crossed your mind. We may both leave Moordale and go to university, go our separate ways and meet other people. So I know I can't expect you to wear this ring forever. But as long as we're here, I need you to know that you're my everything, and I hate every moment we're apart. I love you so much, Maeve."

That distant look filled her eyes again.

She tried it on and it fitted perfectly on her ring finger. Engraved on the inner side of the ring were the words Never Forget Me I Love You.  
And without a second thought she did exactly the same as when she'd got the essay award. She half walked, half ran to the red house on the hill only minutes away. And as she paused at the top of the steps she knew he wouldn't be outside the house kissing another girl. He was hers and hers alone.

She rang the bell and he answered immediately. He smiled at her, and she smiled back sweetly, fighting tears of intense emotion.

"I love getting letters and messages from you, dickhead."

Lifting her hand, she raised her eyebrows, her smile growing wider, as if she wanted to ask a question. She showed him the ring, her sweetest I Love You look in her eyes and gave him a theatrical little wave.

"Yes, I'll always wear it, Otis, and I'll............"

She broke off mid sentence.

He was wearing an exact duplicate on his ring finger.


	31. Two academics

"Excuse me, Cynthia?"

Otis hadn't been introduced, but they'd seen each other in passing when he'd been to see Maeve at the caravan. Maeve had shown him lots of pictures of Elsie and Cynthia too. They'd been taken when she 'd dropped Elsie off before going to school, or to quizzes.

So he was pretty sure it was her coming out of the baker's as he'd left the jewellers that day.

"Sorry to disturb you. I'm Otis, Maeve and I are good friends."

Cynthia was yet another lady to be caught up in Otis's magic powers and was happy to talk. She'd seen him coming out of the jewellers and bluntly asked, "Buying engagement rings then, were you?"

"Um... no, I was after a watch actually, and I did end up ordering some rings, but we're not planning on getting engaged any time soon." 

And it was then that he asked her a favour, as he'd wanted to surprise Maeve with "a ring with a difference."  
Cynthia agreed surprisingly quickly to play along, even if it meant she had to say a few lines as she dropped off the little parcel. He said he'd pay for her taxi and pressed £50 into her hand.

Mission accomplished.

Engagement rings?

Otis had his hand positioned on the doorframe as he leaned against it to welcome Maeve, and of course, she'd seen the ring almost immediately and reacted so sweetly.

"Oh, Otis you've got one too!"

"Yep. It fell off the back of a lorry."

"Aah, and the fairies wrote the letter?"

"No, I got my secretary to do that. Come in and let me wipe those tears from your eyes. Sad about something?"

"Dickhead!"

He took her hand and led her upstairs.

"Let's have a little talk."

"Oh?" said Maeve wickedly. "That's what they call it nowadays, is it?"

They both collapsed on his bed and their kisses were hot and passionate. They almost tore each other's clothes off, and Maeve whispered huskily as she kissed his neck. "Let me say thankyou, dickhead...... In my own special way."

His throbbing penis was in her hands as she massaged it expertly and guided it to her open mouth. Licking and sucking in all the right places, she had him so close to exploding as her emotions lit passionate fires deep in her belly. She gasped and panted as his rockhard cock filled her mouth and throat. And he exploded right there, filling her with thick, creamy cum.

And it only seemed like moments later when their passion led his penis to what Lily would have called "her sex cavity". The condom was on in a flash and they both "enjoyed each other's company", nearly breaking his bed. The ecstacy was complete as they both fell back, gasping for breath.

Otis would have offered her a post-coital cigarette, but he didn't smoke and she'd forgotten hers in her rush to get to him and thank him for the ring.

"What does it say on yours?" Maeve dreamily asked him as they lay in each other's arms, their eyes only inches apart, searching each other's souls and finding exactly what they were looking for. 

Otis took off his ring and gave it to her. "And I want that back, fast! It's mine! Do you hear?"

She giggled, her face melted into a smile, and her eyes said I Love You as she read the words.

Remember Always Sweet True Love Is Maeve And Otis

"Did I get the message in the letter right?" he asked her out on the deck as they drank ice-cold fruit cocktail at the table.

"Otis?"

He knew there was going to be something meaningful coming up as she said his name with determination and rock-solid belief in herself.

"What?"

"Yes I will wear it. It's perfect and yet another beautiful example of how much you care, dickhead."

Then her voice took on an almost critical tone, which he knew wasn't meant to be in any way hurtful or upsetting.

"You said we hadn't reached the engagement stage yet....and we might go our separate ways and the rings would only be for as long as we were here at Moordale. That was the realistic and pragmatic Otis speaking, and very wisely. But...."

Again Otis wondered what was coming next, but he was intrigued, and not the least bit apprehensive.

"I've told you before that if we couldn't be together I'd be devastated and couldn't bear it if I lost you. That is, and always will be true."

Otis remembered the words when she told him she loved him after they'd found Elsie. 'Because it's true.' If only he'd given Ola up there and then. She was going to dump him anyway. Things always looked different with the benefit of hindsight. Anyway, they were together now, so who cared?

"You said you wouldn't expect me to wear this ring...." and she kissed it....."forever. And you said it wasn't an engagement ring. All very appropriate and well thought out, Otis.......

"But what if, just for the sake of argument, what if we didn't go our separate ways after Moordale?"

"Huh?"

She'd caught him on the wrong foot again, and was loving it.

"Cambridge."

Nice place, Otis thought. Lovely old university buildings and colleges that went back to the very beginnings of education in England. It was a smallish, pretty place with lots of different colleges, and if...........

"We wouldn't be apart if I was at one college and you were at another in Cambridge, and let's face it, we're both well-qualified to get in there. Everything is so close there."

This was showing Otis another amazing thing about his girlfriend. How, and when, had she ever been able to think about ANYTHING outside her own angry world?

"Lots of happily married couples were childhood sweethearts and stayed together, no matter what. Are you getting my message, dickhead?"

"I think so, Maeve."

Oh my god.

"As always, Otis, you think right."

This was his Maeve sounding like an expert, and it didn't matter if what she said was objective, rather than overly romantic. But...Oh my god, oh my god.

What she said next was romantic, and it would render him defenceless, totally and unequivocally.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Otis. Let me have your ring again please. It won't come to any harm."

He took it off and passed it to her.

She took it lovingly, handling it so carefully, as if it were made of the most fragile material on this earth. Slowly she got up from her seat on the deck and stepped towards him.

Right in front of him now, she got down on one knee, took his hand and slipped the ring back on to his finger, looked up at him. Her eyes carried the crystal clear message. 'Don't you DARE say no.'

"This ring is now an engagement ring, Otis. Please, I want you with me forever, and longer."

OH MY GOD.


	32. The right words

Otis knew you didn't keep a lady waiting in situations like this, and, trying to compose himself, he looked down at her. Into her endlessly beautiful brown eyes. It was his turn to feel the butterflies now. He knew what his reponse was going to be; it was just a matter of using the right words. Finding enormous strength from her unconditional love for him, and oh my god the way she could say 'please?' prompted him to express his thoughts as best he could.

"Maeve. What you're proposing is something huge, something wonderful and something I can't find the words to describe. And it's usually followed by a question. I promise my answer to that question will be what you want to hear. But....the brilliant and powerful Maeve Wiley does NOT kneel to anybody. That's such a sweet 'grand gesture' and it makes me feel so special. But please get up, Maeve. I need your face close to mine when I hear those words from you. I need your lips close to mine so I can kiss you and be close enough to whisper in your ear. Maeve I can't get the words out, so help me here.........please??"

"Otis, I'm making an exception here because you're exceptional in so many sweet and wonderful ways. I do want to be close, and look deep into your eyes. You've seen how seriously I'm taking this, but I will get up now."

She rose slowly and purposefully and, with her hands in his hair, and her lips to his ear, her question was hardly more than a whisper. The most beautiful words he'd ever heard.

"I love you so, so much and I can't imagine ever being with anybody else, Otis. I want this more than anything in the world. You make me so happy, you make me so proud, you make me so strong, and you make me feel like I've never, ever felt before. Will you marry me, Otis? It doesn't have to be now, just whenever you want. But Otis, will you marry me?? Please please say yes. I love you like crazy, honestly I do." 

Her lovely big brown eyes were indescribably beautiful. They were prettier and more expressive than he'd ever seen them before. There was a tear, too, as she spoke the words he needed to hear.

Otis Milburn's response was immediate.

"This, Maeve Wiley, is not the time to keep a pretty lady waiting. Yes, I will, Maeve. Yes, yes and a million times yes. You already know it but I really do love you and my only aim in life is to make the loveliest, smartest, sweetest girl in the world happy. How am I doing so far?"

Her answer was the sweetest kiss ever.The words she whispered were like music. 

"You're doing pretty well, Otis. I feel your endless love and you're making me cry tears of joy, and I adore the way you wipe my tears away, dickhead. I love you, and there will never be anyone else."

"Glad to hear it, Little Miss Happy."

He smiled broadly and his smile just widened as a thought occurred to him. He chuckled.

"What's up, dickhead?"

"I can just see Aimee's face when we drop this bombshell."

Maeve grinned.

This had been a unique few minutes, but also a little on the serious side. You had to take proposals seriously of course. 

But now Maeve and Otis had good reason to smile even more.


	33. Open up your world, Maeve

Otis had learned to drive and he and Maeve had planned a trip north up along the Welsh border to the old city of Chester. They'd been on the road about half an hour when a truck approached them at 70mph on the wrong side of the road. Otis froze in horror. He knew that truck was out of control. Nobody in a car would survive that crash.

Everything went black.

And he woke up, screaming. 

It was one of the few nights when they'd slept apart and as he realised he'd been dreaming, he needed her by his side more than ever.

When they met at the entrance to school, Maeve felt the tightest hug ever as he clung on to her for dear life.

"This is lovely, Otis. Hug me wherever and whenever you like, but I do need air to breathe sometimes."

He told her how he'd woken up screaming that morning.

Maeve now associated nightmares with her opening the kitchen cupboard and finding she'd run out of her favourite biscuits.

"YOU have been having nightmares??"

"After you said you wanted to be with me forever I guess my worst fear was that I'd lose you, Maeve. And that's how that fear manifested itself."

But in her arms as they hugged, he rapidly recovered and reasoned that everyone had bad dreams, just as the doc had said. 

And they both made their separate ways to class.

At lunch, they met on the lawn. She kissed him and stroked his hair and asked if he was OK now.

"Fine, Maeve."

"Then I'm OK too. Never better."

"And I've got an idea, Maeve."

She imagined all sorts of lovely surprises.

"Gonna tell me, or are you planning something in secret like our rings again?"

"No. I need you to be in on this because you need to open up your world."

"But look at all the new knowledge I'm getting from all my new courses and projects, dickhead. You've helped me open up so much Otis, what more could there be?"

He looked her straight in the eye and asked, "How far away from Moordale have you ever been in your life before? I think I know the answer to that."

"We did go on a class trip to Stratford to see Macbeth, but I could never afford to go anywhere and I had other stuff on my mind."

"So, open up your world, Maeve."

"No time Otis, too much school work."

"Mix work with pleasure."

She looked blank.

She was a brilliant thinker, but sometimes she missed the simplest things and was glad Otis was there to stimulate that brain of hers even further.

Still a blank look.

"OK, I'll give you a clue. Roman history. Roman roads in Britain."

Now a light went on. "Yes Otis I've been looking forward to that history project with you in the same group. That's going to be so good."

"OK, Maeve, nearly there. Just think outside the classroom."

She half joked with him. "You've bought a chariot and we're going to do a Roman road trip."

"Let's go north to Chester. The old Roman road Watling Street ends just south of there and we can do B&B over a long weekend, do some project research too. Mum will let us have the car."

"I'm an idiot, Otis. I know I'm smart, but sometimes I whizz past closed doors and avenues in my haste to reach my goal. Sounds brilliant! Let's do it. I love you."


	34. The housewarming

"Nobody's commented on the rings yet, Maeve. What are we going to say? Somebody's bound to notice mine. I'm not a ring person usually. I'm proud to wear it because of what it means to both of us, of course. But at our age I'm going to get some funny looks if I say it's an engagement ring. I guess I could say I bought them for us because we're together."

"All good, dickhead. If you should be lost for words, just refer anyone looking funny to me. We could announce the real reason why we're wearing them at the housewarming."

Otis smiled. He knew the team was working at its best again. Maeve would be the one to handle things this time.

The housewarming was planned for the following Saturday.

Jean would do some food, Aimee would even be baking a cake. Otis would pick up the drinks in his mum's car. But they'd both agreed to get a caterer in to do most of the work and they'd clear away the dishes afterwards as part of the service. Music would come from the laptop and a PA system, and the friendly neighbours would be told there was to be a party going on, but the music would be turned down after 11pm.

Maeve Wiley was really looking forward to it. With Otis and her closest friends there, it was going to be brilliant. Friends and family would include Eric, Adam, Aimee and Steve, Ola, Jakob, and Jean.

Otis was the one to make the announcement that evening. He had to admit he was on pretty good form as he tapped his glass and asked for the guests' attention.

"Ahem! I'd like to say a few words before I speak," he joked confidently. "Thank you all for coming and bringing these lovely gifts for the new flat. It's so good to see you all. We hope this will not be the last of our little get-togethers....Now. These rings......."

He and Maeve, standing close, held up their hands at exactly the same time. There was no need for a signal; their telepathy was working perfectly.

"There will be wedding bells."

Huge gasps and amazement all round.

He tapped his glass again.

"Not today, not next month, not next year, but there definitely will be."

He put on his This Is Serious look.

He turned to his fiancee as the words she always loved to hear were heard by everybody present. 

"This. Will. Happen. Nothing, or nobody will ever come between us."

And they kissed. 

Eric howled and Aimee squealed in delight. Everybody there agreed it was so good these two were finally together and so happy.

Jean had a tear or two in her eye. She'd really got to know Maeve and loved her like a daughter.

Otis motioned for them to quieten down and added, "Anyway she said she'd punch me in the face if I didn't marry her."

Maeve dug him in the ribs, really quite hard.

"She even said Please. Listen, all of you. When Maeve Wiley asks you to do something, you do it, OK? Those boots can do quite a lot of damage, even if you are wearing Iron Man armour plating."

Giggles from Maeve as she raised her fist at him in mock anger, and everybody laughed and applauded. They looked so right together.

And that was the way the whole evening passed.

Another of those evenings neither Maeve nor Otis would ever forget.

She thought to herself yet again, "How does he DO it?.......... Come to that, how did I do it???"

The answer to that was perfection. Standing right next to her.


	35. A country drive and dinner for two

The weekend for the research trip to Chester was fast approaching. Jean had gone to London on a conference, travelling by train. The blue Mercedes was tanked up and ready to go. 

Otis was armed with maps and Maeve had taken to mapreading like a duck to water as she prepared for yet another thing that was a first for her since she'd been with Otis. Correction, the first time in her life.

She could hardly contain herself because she knew she'd be travelling 110 miles one-way for this trip. Some people did that to and from work every day, but for her this was going to be like Sir Francis Drake circumnavigating the earth in the Golden Hind.

North and just east of the Welsh border, via places with strange-sounding names like Much Birch and the nearby Little Birch and Much Dewchurch to the city of Hereford, with its half-timbered houses, its cathedral and the home of Bulmers cider, which she liked to drink with meals or while watching TV.

Then on to the Shropshire hills and forests via Leominster. Shropshire had forests and hills that looked a lot like the forest that Eric and Otis cycled through on the way to school. So the landscape was familiar, but so new to her at the same time. 

Further north were Shrewsbury, near the northwestern end of the Roman road at Wroxeter, which they'd explore, along with Shrewsbury on the way back, and Oswestry, very close to the Welsh border, where roadsigns would point to Welsh towns that were impossible to pronounce. Then via Wrexham, or Wrecsam, in Welsh. 

Why wasn't there an 'x' or a 'j' or a 'v' in Welsh, but lots of double 'l's and double 'd's??

Then finally to Chester, nearly two millennia old, one of the oldest walled cities in the UK, where she'd booked a pretty little B&B. That was easy, but again, she'd NEVER actually been to one.

Otis picked her up just after lunch on Friday, wearing a navy blue chauffeur's peaked cap. Where had THAT come from?? But she refused point-blank to sit in the back. That wasn't close enough to him.

As she locked her door, she reflected that her only overnight stays had been at Otis's or Aimee's house.

"Nervous about your first long drive, Otis?"

He had only passed his test a few weeks ago, but driving came easy to him, almost as easy as riding his bike.

"Nope. But I'll have to keep my eyes on the road instead of looking into your beautiful eyes, Maeve. That'll be the hardest."

Compliments from a perfect gentleman. They warmed her fluttering heart so much.

"Hmm. OK. I'll have to put my hand on your knee, or your thigh, so if your sense of vision isn't stimulated, another sense will be all the more." 

She laughed, wickedly.

"Behave yourself, Wiley! Stuff like that can wait till we get to the B&B. Naughty girl!"

She giggled and had to convince herself she wasn't dreaming.

"It'll be a bit like a honeymoon....." she thought to herself. 

As they left Moordale, she leant back in the front seat and relaxed. Totally. She just loved gazing out of the car window at the lush green English countryside, the rolling hills and gushing streams and little waterfalls.

They made good progress up to the Shropshire hills, where they stopped at a picnic area near Church Stretton. Why did a simple flask of tea taste so good out in the open air? The car park had a little caravan snack bar where they got some delicious pies to have with their tea before carrying on. 

They had a brief stop to take photos just before Shrewsbury, where, looking to the east, they could see Wroxeter, where the Roman road ended, on the River Severn. The Romans had actually grown grapes at a vinyard there too.

Crossing into Wales near places like Llangollen and Rhosllanerchrugog, they both had to take extra care as they saw the roadsigns in two languages, Welsh first and English underneath as they navigated north. The Welsh was unpronounceable, but Maeve adapted first to looking to the lower halves of the signs to see the English names of the small towns to help Otis out.

As they drew into Chester they both thought of knights and archers manning the ramparts of the old city walls and found their way to the B&B where Maeve said she wanted to check in, a simple procedure, but again, she'd never done this before.

Otis whispered to her at the reception, which was more like a serving hatch really, "How does Mr and Mrs Milburn sound to you, Maeve?"

She gave him a black look before grinning. "It's going to be Mr and Mrs Wiley, dickhead!"

The receptionist, who was also the proprietress, showed them up to their room . It overlooked a beautiful rose garden and the scent was just as amazing as the most exclusive perfumes from Grasse in the south of France. As they closed the door to their room, Maeve was in seventh heaven as they tried the bed for softness and comfort, but she didn't ravish him there and then.

Dinner was first. 

Otis had chosen the suit he was wearing to pick her up from the clinic, and she was wearing the black dress she'd worn at the school dance. They walked hand in hand to a small restaurant specialising in home cooking where Otis had reserved a table just across from the open hearth with logs crackling in the orange flames.

They were shown to the table where they sat opposite each other, holding hands. The waiter brought the menu and the wine list and lit the single tall red candle in the middle of the table. 

As the candlelight flickered in his deep blue eyes, the butterflies fluttered in Maeve's stomach and she only just managed to control the tears of joy that were threatening to fill her eyes. 

Otis could only stare into hers. They mesmerised him totally as they reflected the candlelight and he still couldn't believe what was happening. The words they were both thinking were exactly the same. I love you a thousand times over. In fact they both whispered them only once at the table, but that was enough.

As they drank to a "successful working weekend" with a glass of Merlot, the cosy little restaurant became the centre of the universe and nothing else mattered.

Maeve and Otis didn't notice the other couples at the restaurant, but they were all thinking the same as they glanced over to their table. Here were two young people, hopelessly in love with each other, enjoying their first romantic dinner together on a perfect evening.

Yes, Maeve Wiley definitely needed to get away more, especially if evenings like this were on the menu.


	36. Candlelight, and a simple choice

"OK, Maeve. The laws of etiquette require that only the gentleman should peruse the menu and recommend to the lady what he thinks she might like. But you're so independent and strong-minded. You'll want to make your own choice from the menu. What's it to be?"

She knew all about this from her vast knowledge of period literature and said she'd choose herself. And again her heart glowed because Otis was offering her a choice, doing everything in his power to make her happy.

"Thank you, kind sir, I'd like to see the menu too if I may....... I'll have the steak with baked potato and a salad side."

"The lady shall have what she desires........"

All she desired was to eat him whole.

"I'll go for the grilled salmon and help myself from the salad bar."

"Oh, and Otis......."

He knew from her tone, he could read her so perfectly, that something rather unladylike might follow. He flashed his blue eyes at her and grinned wickedly.

She added, having totally given up the fight against a hundred million butterflies, with her I Need You look,

"And I'll have you for dessert..... a bit later."

"I think that could be arranged."

The service was good, the food was excellent, and, going totally against the laws of Victorian etiquette, they split the bill.

Maeve just kept on repeating to herself.... Never done this before.... Never done this before.......

They walked back, his arm around her, tenderly squeezing her shoulder and her head was nestling in the crook of his neck. Her bare shoulders were smooth and silky to the touch, a little cool, but there'd be no need for a Nutella-stained jumper tonight.

"I'm going to wake up in a moment, Maeve. This can't be happening. It can't. This is the romcom cliche par excellence, only I didn't bring the boombox. You and I, walking back to a cosy B&B after a candlelit dinner. The moon and the stars, and the love in your eyes, Maeve. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. No question about it."

"No, dickhead. You're not going to wake up, because you're not asleep. We're here, we're both head-over-heels in love, it's an ideal night for a romantic proposal, but we did that already."

He sighed.

"Black or white?"

"Maeve Wiley, you're confusing me again."

"I know, and it's such fun, dickhead. Ha ha."

"Are we going to play chess when we get back?"

"Black or white?"

OK. He was going to play along, although he still didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

"White."

"OK." The nonchalance was absolutely obvious, but she couldn't hide a grin.

"But Maeve, aren't you going to give me a clue?"

"Nope. Wait and see."

They entered the bedroom and no, they were not immediately consumed by a huge urge to let hot wild passion take over. Otis still felt he was in a dream and Maeve entered the ensuite bathroom with her makeup bag and closed the door behind her.

"I'll be just a minute, Otis."

And a minute, or two at the most later, she emerged.

He was now in his boxers on the double bed and what he saw blew his mind.

She hadn't even removed her makeup. 

"So white is OK, Otis?"

All she had on was the tiniest, totally transparent piece of almost nothing, in white.

Now the stage was set for an incredible night.

The lights went down and the room darkened.

They awoke next morning, naked, their bodies intertwined under the light duvet cover.

She got on top of him as he slipped on the condom and rode him rhythmically but slowly. All their wild passion had been used up during the night, so this was the lovely, relaxed early morning variety of lazy sex. 

"I brought a black one too, Otis. We'll keep it for later."

"Nice to have a choice, Maeve,"

The scent of the rose garden in the early morning was intoxicating. The birds were in full song and the sun was shining from a cloudless sky. It was chilly, but it would warm up later, ideal weather for them to explore. 

But Otis was hungry again after his salmon and light salad last night. The smell of bacon from the kitchen was now so inviting.

As they descended and entered the breakfast room, the owner was waiting to take their breakfast order.

"Nice night?"

"Lovely," they both said together, and Maeve giggled.

"The bed is really comfortable, thank you," Otis added.

Otis had the full English breakfast and Maeve went for cereal, toast with homemade jam and marmalade and coffee.

Over that delicious breakfast, they decided the plan for today was to wander round the old streets of Chester, and take in the Roman museum. Otis had also disovered there was an amphitheatre just outside the city, and Maeve was again the excited little girl as she joked "Lions 3, Christians 0."

A perfect day for research and lots of pleasure mixed in.

And both agreed their day would be amazing. 

Maeve had seen on the breakfast menu that packed lunches were also available. She ordered two from the landlady.............. Never done this before,.... Never done this before......

She was like an old vinyl record that had got stuck. She was loving it.


	37. So now to work

The walls of Chester in Cheshire had a long history. Their construction was started by the Romans when they established the fortress of Deva Vectrix between 70 and 80 AD. It originated with a rampart of earth and turf surmounted by a wooden palisade.  
From about 100 AD they were reconstructed using sandstone, but were not completed until over 100 years later. Following the Roman occupation nothing is known about the condition of the walls until Aethelflaed refounded Chester as a burgh in 907. The defences were improved, although the precise nature of the improvement is not known. After the Norman conquest the walls were extended to the west and the south to form a complete circuit of the medieval city. The circuit was probably complete by the middle of the 12th century.

Southeast of the fortress is the largest known military amphitheatre in Britain. The civilian settlement remained after the Romans departed, eventually becoming the present-day city of Chester.

The fortress contained barracks, granaries, headquarters, military baths, and an unusual elliptical building which, had it been finished, may have been intended to act as the governor of Britain's headquarters.

They were both fascinated as they walked in the footsteps of Roman soldiers and medieval townsfolk. Maeve's eyes were everywhere and she became rather annoyed with herself for never doing anything like this before. But she didn't have Otis before.

Did the Romans speak with Italian accents? Did they drive their chariots on the left or the right? Where did names like Manchester, Winchester and Chichester originate? Were the origins of Leicester and Worcester similar?

Maeve's questions were all answered patiently and professionally by the well-trained guides on site and at Tourist Information.

They had their picnic lunches on the grass by the visitors centre at the amphitheatre. Otis was fascinated by it all, of course, but Maeve felt like she was in another world. 'Amphi-' was Greek and theatre was Latin. How come the Romans didn't have their own word for 'amphi-'?

The day passed eventfully and quickly as the morning chill wore off. The sky was blue, with puffy little white clouds, ideal weather for wandering round hand-in-hand and the sun was not too hot.

Otis's chest filled with pride. He frequently glanced to his left at his girlfriend as they walked the city and the fort. He was so pleased to be the one to be doing this with her. She was so smart, soaking up all the details and was thoroughly enjoying herself having Otis at her side. She squeezed his hand a million times that day. No words were needed.

The modern world of the text message was bypassed as they both bought and wrote postcards to Jean, Aimee, and Eric.

Dinner that evening couldn't have been more different than last night's. Fish,chips and mushy peas on a park bench as they watched the people walking by. 

And that night she wore black.


	38. A rose

Otis still couldn't believe he had such an incredibly beautiful girlfriend. Correction, fiancee....

"Don't make me decide whether it should be black or white again. Last night was unbelievable, but now you're out of this world in black."

She grinned wickedly as she hopped onto the bed beside him and kissed him full on the lips.

"OK, dickhead. It'll be red or blue next time."

"Leave the black one on now, Maeve. You're as good as nude anyway. You won't need to take it off....."

She lay on top of him, kissing his lips and his neck, then worked her way down, so he could rub her between her breasts with his erection. The sensation of his penis slipping between them with the flimsy black fabric the only thing in the way was mindbending. Then she slid down and rubbed his pulsing manhood against her cheek before enjoying her dessert for that evening.

And there was more ice cream, and coffee and a brandy to follow, figuratively speaking.

She awoke next morning and reached out for him, but he wasn't there. Maeve didn't worry too much about that. He wouldn't be far away. Something drew her to the window. She opened it and looked out. 

He was there in the rose garden, his back to her as he bent over the flower bed.

She cried with joy and her rapidly beating heart glowed when she saw he was cutting a rose for her with his penknife. He was PERFECT, and she loved him and his sweet ways of showing her that he cared, time and time again.

Moments later, he had re-entered the bedroom and with a bow, he took her outstretched right hand and kissed it. "A rose for the pretty lady."

She giggled and smiled her I Love You smile.

"Thank you, Mr Milburn. You are so kind."

As she gently took her hand away, he looked deep into her eyes and simply said, "Other hand please."

She offered it sweetly and he took it and kissed her ring.

"I don't deserve you, Maeve, honestly,....... but....... I guess I must be doing something right, otherwise you wouldn't be wearing the ring."  
He twisted it gently on her finger.  
She took his face in her hands and pulled him firmly towards her half-open lips.  
He was so close to her as she whispered, "Otis Milburn, you've been doing the right thing ever since that morning in the biology lab."

Their kisses grew more passionate ...... and they were nearly late for breakfast.

As they were leaving, they both said they'd definitely be back, and would recommend the lovely guesthouse to all their friends.  
They would return there on every anniversary of their first weekend away together for many years to come.

On the way back to Moordale, they stopped at the end of the Roman road at Wroxeter to take some photos close up. Lunch in Shrewsbury followed at a busy little restaurant, where they managed to get a table outside. 

A traditional Sunday lunch of roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding.

Late in the afternoon they lay on a grassy bank just south of Hereford and dozed in each other's arms as the view of the rolling green hills provided the backdrop to a lazy Sunday afternoon.

And they were back on the deck at Otis's enjoying a glass of wine as the moon rose.

Had he been dreaming?

Had she ever been happier?


	39. The river and the university

They both got top grades for their History project and were so looking forward to doing the next trip, which there were no particular plans for.

Jean had loved the postcard, while Eric and Aimee could barely remember what a postcard was.

Otis, to his huge surprise, also got one.

Drawn on the back was a huge red heart and the words 'THANK YOU. I LOVE YOU'. xxxxx

When had she written that? Possibly at a restaurant when he had taken a bathroom break..........

They were on the lawn in front of school, not saying much, just loving each other's eyes, when Otis broke the dreamy silence.  
"Your turn."

This time Maeve was confused. "What for?"

"I chose Chester. Your turn next."

"Oh. OK."

She thought for a moment or two. Otis loved to see her beautiful, sharp brain working.

"A river. No, two rivers."

Where were there two rivers?

She read his mind and said, "Two places, two rivers, one trip."

Otis needed to think about this one.

"It's a trip, and it's what you always give to me, dickhead." She smiled sweetly.

"TLC."

He knew about the Tender Loving Care bit and kissed her cheek. 

He took a guess. "Thames, London,........ something?"

"Well done, Otis. Nearly there. The C is for a river and a city on that river."

Otis saw all the lights going on. "Cambridge! The River Cam goes through there! Train to London, look around there a bit and get a train up to Cambridge!"

"First prize, Otis," and she grinned wickedly. " Collect your reward on my sofa later."

Otis said he'd book the train tickets and the guesthouse. 

He knew she was on a mission and didn't want to distract her from it. An hour or two walking along the Thames Embankment would be great. But Cambridge had been her goal for quite a long time.They could do London another time. He remembered how she'd said they wouldn't have to go their separate ways if they were both in Cambridge, even if they were at different colleges there. He also knew Maeve would be perfect Cambridge material, and he did have a gift for therapy that was something that seemed to run in his family. He wasn't 100% sure he could get in, but he was going to try damned hard. For her. So, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences for him, and English Language and Literature for her.

Jean would be dropping them off at Newport station, where they'd get the train to Paddington. Maeve would have a window seat on the London train because train travel was all so new to her. He would be to her left, close to her heart. 

The express passed through the tunnel under the Severn estuary and took them into England from Wales. They'd only be stopping at Bristol, where the docks rapidly grew with the slave trade, through the English countryside towards Reading. Not quite as beautiful as the countryside on the way to Chester, but new nevertheless for Maeve. At Reading there were connections to Heathrow Airport. Would their first trip abroad together leave from there? At Paddington they'd need to get the Underground to King's Cross for the Cambridge train. But first they took the tube to Embankment, for their walk across Westminster Bridge, right next to the Houses of Parliament. The London Eye and the South Bank were close by.

Again Maeve hugged his arm just as tightly as she had done in Chester on their walk along the Thames. She'd seen so much on TV about the sights of London and their surroundings. But in real life everything seemed so much bigger. Their rucksacks seemed to weigh nothing at all as they enjoyed the scenery.  
Again Maeve's inquisitive mind needed to know all the answers. How much gunpowder did Guy Fawkes need in his attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament when the Protestant King James I came for the ceremonial opening? How important was river transport in the days of trucks and trains? When was Tower Bridge built?

Maeve found it easy to work out how the Underground worked and she almost led Otis through to the right platforms. 

Soon after, they were checking in at their B&B in Cambridge. They both marvelled at the beautiful university buildings in the taxi on the way there. They were welcomed by the landlord and landlady to a Victorian house with wood fittings throughout. The three kids who also called the house their home (in fact it was two houses knocked into one) were lovely. Maeve heard their dad saying 'I love you' to all three as he said goodnight to them.  
No, no thoughts of her own parents. 'Mum' meant Jean, and 'Dad' meant the kind of dad she was seeing here at the guesthouse.

It was a short bus ride to the city centre for dinner, and a chance to see so many of the University buildings. The place where they got pub food was also the place where a very significant announcement had been made in 1953.  
The Eagle, the Cambridge pub where Francis Crick announced that he and James Watson had discovered the DNA double-helix. On the afternoon of February 28, 1953, a regular at The Eagle made an announcement to the other patrons enjoying their lunch in the Cambridge pub about the momentous discovery. 

Maeve knew that Cambridge was going to be the place for her. But she still needed Otis for tips on the demanding interview for prospective students.  
He told her she'd have to answer questions that weren't quite as simple as they seemed.

"Imagine you're a male lorry driver," he quizzed Maeve, a Quiz Head expert on Literature and Philosophy. "You're driving along and you see three people at a bus stop. Your best friend, a very pretty girl, and a guy that desperately needed to be taken to hospital to save his life. You can only take one of them with you. So who would it be?"

Maeve came out with the answer almost before he'd finished speaking.

"That's way too easy for an interview panel at an elite university, Otis. The emergency hospital case. Saving a life takes absolute priority."

"Yep. Good, sensible and humane answer, Maeve. But......... the panel need to hear something innovative, something that would actually satisfy the male lorry driver most."

"Just like I said Otis. There's no other answer to this."

"This, Maeve, is where the panel want to see your ability to think outside the box. Anybody would answer the same as you. But 'anybody' isn't good enough for places at universities like Oxford and Cambridge."

She looked at him quizzically.

"Bend and adapt the rules for an innovative and satisfying solution for the truck driver."  
She gave him her full attention.  
" Because your best mate is at the stop, a guy you know everything about, including the fact that he can drive a truck, you give him the keys so he can take the sick guy to hospiital. Then you get to chat to the pretty girl while you wait for your mate to bring the truck back."  
"Oh."  
Maeve was perfect at finding the solution to a task based on the information in front of her. No worries about that. But if you adapt that information without breaking the rules, you could come out with answers like these. She needed to adapt and even improve upon any information given, something that didn't come so easily to everybody.

"Lucky lorry driver!" And she dug him in the ribs. 

Then she whispered in his ear. "Here's an easy one. Red or blue?"


	40. Academic inspiration

It didn't really matter to Otis what colour nightwear she chose, she looked stunning in anything. And tonight it would be red, with silver glitter for effect.  
As she lay on her side next to him his mouth teased her right nipple while he thumbed her left through the flimsy half-sheer fabric.  
She slipped off his boxers and guided his dick to her silky inner thigh so he could tease her there too, working slowly upwards to her soft centre. She applied the condom and he rolled her over onto her back. She spread her legs for him and he slid in. Who said the classic missionary position was boring?

She moaned in ecstatic delight as he thrusted deep inside her, teasing her swollen clitoris with every stroke..... and they found their own rhythm to intensify their pleasure.  
God I love you......You're driving me crazy...... Oh my god I need you so bad...... Please don't stop, give me more...... more.....

It didn't really matter who was saying, whispering, or screaming it....their passion knew no bounds as he erupted inside her as she shuddered and convulsed in sheer lustful delight.

Breakfast, which consisted of freshly-cooked locally-sourced products, was served in the busy pinewood breakfast room. There was an old black stove in the middle of the far wall, which was lit in the winter. Despite the nearby kitchen, the room was airy and a cooling breeze blew through the open French windows at the side. 

Next on the menu would be a walk into town along the River Cam, which by mid-morning was already becoming busy with punts, the flat-bottomed boats propelled by a long pole, like the gondolas in Venice. They could be hired with or without a puntsman, and it was always so funny to watch the rank beginners trying to steer and not fall into the water.

Their excitement grew as they approached the beautiful King's College chapel in the centre of the city by the marketplace. It was surrounded by huge lawns and visitors always sat on the low wall between the chapel and the main street watching life go by.  
Otis was going for a place to study PBS (Psychology and Behavioral Sciences) at King's. Maeve's goal was to get in to Pembroke College to read English Literature.

At the entrance to Trinity College, they saw an apple tree which the guide claimed to be a descendant of the apple tree where Sir Isaac Newton saw an apple fall to the ground, prompting him to explore the concept of gravity. 

The colleges of Cambridge dated back to 1284, with the newest opened in 1977, and as they walked by, both Maeve and Otis felt they were being steeped in educational history.  
After all that walking around, both felt they needed a rest, so they booked a boat trip on the Cam, which took them past the colleges and under so many old bridges spanning the river. They snacked on fruit they'd bought at the market and dinner was at a Mediterranean-style restaurant on the high street opposite the chapel.

Chester had been their first weekend away together, and the focus had been on Roman history and romance at the candelit restaurant.

Cambridge was informative on so many levels, with good meals and the romance was in plentiful supply back at the B&B.

They both wrote postcards and although the long walks had been tiring, they were loving every second of their trip, simply because they were together.

After graduating from Moordale, they would still be together in Cambridge. That was for certain.


	41. Coaching

The realist in Maeve told her the prize money from the essaywriting competition wasn't going to last forever. There were expenses arising from the new flat, plus their little weekend trips, plus food and clothing to think about.

Added to that was the longer-term goal of having enough cash to see her through university. The scholarship from the aptitude scheme, which she was determined to get, would help.  
On the plus side of the balance sheet, she had the Saturday library job, which would be full-time in the holidays.  
Some of the gifts from the housewarming were also in cash ......... and she knew, even though she wouldn't have dreamed of asking, that Jean could also contribute, ostensibly to her son's welfare, but Otis's welfare included her 'new daughter's wellbeing too. 

Otis had told her she could also coach students who were having trouble keeping up in class, so she swung into action there too. She contacted Felicity Groff, who would know which students were struggling, and the incomes of their parents. There was also Viv from the Quiz Heads who had tutored Jackson, not for cash, of course, but she'd know of potential students. Through work, she could easily guess by the books students were taking out which ones would need help, and there was also Dr Sarah Harrison.

Maeve Wiley leaned back in her balcony chair and sighed with an air of self-confidence and satisfaction. Her heart glowed.  
There was also a certain immense dickhead who was the perfect solid rock she could depend on. She smiled. She still couldn't believe that she had things under control.  
The hopeless, helpless, angry and aggressive, scary Maeve Wiley seemed to be a thing of the past. She was now also doing remarkably well at looking to the future.

Otis's phone buzzed. 

"I love you xxxx"

No more, no less. A text like this meant she was happy, and often grateful that he was there for her, even though there was no emergency to be dealt with.

He smiled and replied from the school library.

"Maeve Wiley, your maths project for today is to multiply that by a million. Just for starters xxxx"

She would have been more than happy with an 'I Love You too.' But this was him showing her yet again that he could come up with a reply that touched her heart and reached deep into her soul.

Why oh why had it taken so long?? 

In less than a week, she had three new students on her list, whose parents could pay above average fees for 1-hour lessons. And no, she wasn't writing essays for them any more. They needed to show her their schoolwork, and a will to learn, before she agreed to do anything. 

If there was any doubt in her mind, it was because she realised that even geniuses with huge knowledge resources were not always good teachers.  
But again, her love for Otis..........she stroked the ring on her finger...... had helped her immensely to communicate and understand people very much more. Helped of course by the fact that he loved her back.  
There had been so many examples, even going way back to when she first met him in the lab, when she had shown her heart was good, despite her tough exterior. She was putting herself in other people's shoes and seeing new issues from several different angles. And in Otis's loving, protective arms, she was the biggest softie on the planet.

She had nothing to worry about. Her new students, whom she coached in the school library, or on her balcony, were impressed and willing to learn. Moordale Secondary seemed to have lost 'Scary Maeve' and gained a character who was getting more and more popular every day.


	42. Do you remember?

"No, Otis. It wasn't when I saw you waiting for me at the clinic. Remember when we talked on the swings at Aimee's house party?"

It was a rainy summer afternoon and after some sweet, intensive lovemaking on her sofa, they were in each other's arms, just looking into each other's eyes, enjoying the silence and each other's company, when Otis lazily asked her if she could pinpoint the moment when, for her, their friendship had turned into sweet love.

"As early as that?? On those swings?"

"I just felt that something was happening deep inside me, Otis. But I didn't know the word for what I was feeling. Or I was afraid to call it love. I just came out for some air and a cigarette and I saw you on the swing.  
"Something pulled me towards you. You attracted me like a magnet and I let myself go.  
"You said you'd given somebody some advice, which didn't particularly impress me. No. Wrong. Your technique with Adam impressed me a lot, but I guess I didn't sound too impressed because you'd only found one potential client. I was so desperate for cash and I wanted to get things moving. Then you caught me totally off guard when you asked how many clients I'd found that night.  
"Otis, I was speechless. You had beaten me fairly and squarely and I even surprised myself by accepting that. The usual me would have snapped and aggressively tried to assert myself. And loudly."

"Scary Maeve."

She thumped him playfully on the shoulder.

Otis gave her his rapt attention as she continued.

"So, I felt even then that you had this calming effect on me, and those butterflies started. I wanted more, and somehow I knew you were the key to me being able to forget all the shit that was going on in my life, especially when I was near you.  
"So, was it love, Otis?? I really didn't know, but whatever it was, I wanted more. Later, when you and I were going through some bad stuff, I still had those butterflies.

"And much later, when Aimee asked if I could be without you, it was so easy to forgive you. I'd been in love with you then for ages. But on the swings? I didn't know what to call it.  
"But it was wonderful. I knew I was pregnant even then, so off I went for that first medical, and they told me I needed someone to be there to pick me up and walk me home. I knew you wouldn't mind, but what did I do when you arrived way too early? I snapped at you. I messed up.  
"Coming out after the abortion I was convinced I'd rejected you and your sweetness. I thought I'd put you right off and was steeling myself to talk my way out of the clinic.  
" Then you said hi, and those butterflies just swarmed through me and they wouldn't stop. You had waited. You showed me then how kind and dedicated you were and I saw the flowers. I was an idiot.  
"That was love, Otis, but I didn't know then what true love was, so my mind just told me that what I was feeling was a deep appreciation for your dedication and kindness. I felt it but I didn't want to feel it. It was confusing, but yes, Otis, it was love, beautiful love, and I was too stupid to realise it."

They'd had lots of serious talk about their relationship, but after he'd heard what her side of the story was on the swings and at the clinic, he felt the floodgates open as his love poured out. This was, quite simply, amazingly beautiful.

"As we walked back I kept telling myself that I'd never open up to anybody about mum and Sean, but there I was, doing it.  
"And sorry, Otis, I had temporarily forgotten about the flowers. After I'd told you not to feel sorry for me, I went quiet. I looked away from you, but didn't see the beauty of the trees and fields and the blue skies that evening.  
"I was totally wrapped up in awful thoughts and I was close to a breakdown. I tried to fight it and my head turned back towards you and there were those lovely flowers, Otis. I told you I liked them as my mental strength came back, and you gave them to me.  
"The rest, you know. Nobody, but nobody had ever given me flowers before and they meant so much to me. And I was still a bloody idiot and didn't realise properly what I was feeling for you." 

He kissed her and stroked her hair.

"That hug you gave me outside the caravan was so sweet, Maeve, but I was an absolute idiot too. I was too flabbergasted by it to respond properly. We'd never made physical contact before, but that hug felt so sincere. I wish I could have returned it with the affection you were feeling for me then. Then your text later that evening was so special. Only three words that to me felt as strong as the beautiful words I Love You."

'Thanks for today' 

"So here's a hug back in return."  
They had hugged ten million times since the walk back from the clinic, but he knew this one was so special after what she'd told him that rainy afternoon.


	43. Graduation Day

Preparations for the Moordale graduation ceremony and dance were in full swing. Diplomas and prizes would be presented in the school hall, with only immediate family members present. More guests would then be able to attend the champagne buffet in a large marquee and on the lawns in front of the main building.

This was the best time of the school year for all students involved. It meant exams were over and the holidays were just around the corner.

Otis and Maeve had worked hard for the final exams, mostly on the deck or on Maeve's balcony. Food was provided by Jean, or Luigi's Pizza place delivering when Jean was busy.  
Free pizzas! Maeve had been coaching Angelina, Luigi's daughter, in English and History, and he had paid her in cash, or in delicious Italian food.  
Angelina was strikingly beautiful, with jet black hair, long legs and sparkling, laughing brown eyes, and Otis had met her as Maeve was showing her to the door after a coaching session.

"Wow!!" he had said to Maeve as the door closed behind the pretty Italian girl.  
Maeve just grinned and mimicked the cut-throat movement. "Look at her twice and this is what'll happen to you, Milburn."  
"Watch it, Wiley. I saw the way you ogled that med student as he left the library last Saturday. You'll be at the bottom of the river before you know it."

She gave him a playful shove..... and her prettiest smile. Yes, they could even laugh and joke at stuff like this. Because that's all it was. A joke. Nothing, but nothing could ever come between them.

Otis had done remarkably well in all subjects. He was the type that had to work really hard to get results, but he was also on a mission. To be with Maeve at Cambridge. He ended up just two points behind Dex, the Quiz Head, who was going to become Prime Minister by the time he was thirty. Psychology, however, was the only thing that came naturally to him. He'd had lots of practice in his therapy sessions.

Maeve was the type that didn't have to work hard for most of what she wanted, and had performed fantastically well. She could look at a book and reproduce whole sections, or analyse them in seconds. It was just the large volume of work that was challenging.  
When she showed her results to Otis, he almost collapsed in awe. She had ended up joint-first with Viv Odesanya. He gave her a big sloppy wet kiss on the cheek and enthused, "I'm so so proud of you, Maeve. I always knew you were brilliant."  
"I know I'm smart, dickhead, but I got so much inspiration from the guy standing right in front of me now."  
She giggled as he rapidly looked around the room, wondering if there was anyone else there.  
"It's you, Otis, and it always has been."

She returned the kiss with her usual enthusiasm.

"I'd like you to tell a little white lie for me, Sarah."

Dr Sarah Harrison was leaving the post office as Otis passed by. She looked as excited as any woman in her position could possibly be.

"Hello, Otis!" She gave him a huge hug. "I've just had some amazing news. I've just become Elsie's adoptive mum. It's official, as of right now. You can't believe how happy I am. I can't wait to tell Maeve!"

"That's so wonderful, Sarah. I'm so, so happy for you, and Elsie, of course. Congratulations!" 

Sarah, although overjoyed, couldn't help notice a distant look in his eyes.

"Everything OK, Otis?"

Otis Milburn was hatching another plan.

"Yes, couldn't be better...... but.... um...Sarah..... I wonder......could you do something for me, and it'll be for Maeve too.....just say no if you think it's ridiculous....."

Sarah fell under Otis's magic spell yet again and would comply with anything within reason without hesitation.

He asked her to tell Maeve a little white lie if she asked about Elsie's adoption coming through.

"Could you just tell her you haven't heard anything yet, but assure her it would only be a matter of days before the news came through."

When she heard what Otis was planning to do, she immediately complied.

Graduation Day came. The ceremony was a complete success, with so many proud parents and students present on a lovely summer day. As the ceremony reached its end, Felicity Groff announced that the buffet outside was now open and the gentlemen would be permitted to loosen their ties.

As they were filing out of the assembly hall, Maeve noticed that Otis was keeping as close as possible by her side, even closer than usual.

"Hey dickhead, it's great to have you close to me. Always. But I had a good breakfast, I'm not nervous at all, and I haven't been. I'm not about to collapse or anything."

"I need to catch you if you fall, Maeve."

They were approaching the exit door of the main building now, and could already see the marquee in front of them.

"And I haven't even started on the champagne yet. I'm as steady as a rock."

"Wait and see."

"Huh?"

They had now exited the building and were at the top of the steps leading down to the festively decorated lawn and marquee.

Otis was now holding her arm. She loved this, as always, but was still not quite sure what was going on.

"Sarah's right there at the bottom of the steps, Maeve."

"Yep."

And then Maeve Wiley did go weak at the knees. Otis steadied her as she struggled to stay upright. 

She had just seen Sarah Harrison, waving and smiling.  
And in her arms was little Elsie Harrison, also waving so cutely, a huge smile on her face as she recognised her big sis.


	44. The happiest young lady in the universe

Obviously shaken, but in a pleasant, and oh so heartwarming way, she held on to Otis as she waved back. She held back the tears of joy because she wouldn't have wanted Elsie to see her crying. Supported physically and mentally by her solid rock, she made her way down the steps with an ever-increasing spring in her step.  
"Somebody pinch me," she said softly, to nobody in particular. "I'm dreaming."

The people who were most important to her heard.

Sarah was smiling ..... how could Maeve describe it?...almost maternally. A mother to Elsie, and, alongside Jean, a mother and close friend combined, to Maeve herself. 

She couldn't hold back, but something made her ask Sarah's permission first.

"Can I hug her?"

"Course you can, silly girl. She's your sister."

Sarah handed Elsie over to her big sister, who had to be so careful not to squeeze her to death.

With Elsie hugging her tight, her little head over Maeve's shoulder, a tear escaped....maybe two. Elsie wouldn't notice, but everyone nearby did.

What those people saw, was the happiest young lady in the universe.

Not needing any physical support any more, she gently put Elsie down, and with Sarah to her left, and her sister to her right, holding hands, Elsie skipped happily towards the marquee.

"Oooo, that's a big tent! Pretty pretty flowers!"

Jean Milburn, who had been behind them all the way out of the assembly hall, was snapping photos with her phone, hoping her immense pride and emotion wouldn't make the camera wobble too much. This was perfection. Everybody had close family in attendance. It was only Maeve who didn't have anyone........ until now.

It dawned on Maeve Wiley as she walked down the steps on Otis's arm towards Sarah and Elsie, that Otis had planned this (Oh my god, dickhead Milburn and his cunning plans. If there was a course for cunning at Cambridge, he'd come top of the class!) so she could have close family present too. Her heart was bursting with love for him and, internally anyway, she was in floods of tears. She would thank him for that, and cry on his shoulder later.

So with happiness and laughter all around, and some of that laughter increased with the champagne consumed, the Graduation Day celebrations continued until well into the afternoon.

And in the evening, there would be the most perfect Graduation Ball. Maeve would be Otis's date, and he would be hers. The words echoed in her beautiful mind.

"Sometimes, the people we like don't like us back....... I know what it's like when someone doesn't feel the same way about you.... someone you can't stop thinking about...."

We know the rest...... why oh why had it taken so long??


	45. Dancing classes

Otis had been quite excited about taking Ola to the dance. She had made the first moves about dating him and he had felt quite flattered that a girl was taking an interest in a "freak" like him.  
And after he had told Maeve he was a virgin on the bridge that night, he thought she would never be interested in him "that way". He could have kicked himself for not reading the signs. Had he not seen the look of love in her eyes when they'd talked about the essay she'd written for Adam??

At that dance he had talked Liam down from the moon, and she had also told him how amazing he was. She'd hardly looked at Jackson all evening and Marchetti hadn't even complimented her on her dress. She knew they weren't suited to each other, and a breakup was close.

But then Otis had gone behind her back, betrayed her trust, and he'd hurt her. Oh, the complications of teenage relationships. He had apologised so sweetly with the trophy he'd stolen, and that letter........and he didn't know the effect that apology had on her.

Heartbreak had ensued when she saw him kissing Ola, who later went and dumped him.

But that was all in the past and there was absolutely no sign of the tension that had existed between them. The Graduation Ball would be a fairytale evening, and this time the right people would be together for that. 

Maeve's day had been perfect, and Elsie's surprise appearance had been the icing on the cake. She was going to a dance with the incredible "Mr Right" and looked forward to it immensely. Pressure was off, with exams being over, and they could now enjoy the holidays before they both went to Cambridge.

Otis felt the same about his upcoming date for the ball with Maeve, and, he had told her that he'd been playing video games with Eric on Saturday mornings, but in fact he had been planning some more magic.........

His fiancee would find that out on the night of the ball. 

He picked her up, on time, not half an hour earlier, wearing a very smart black suit with a tie the same colour as the flowers he'd bought her while "he waited" at the clinic.

Maeve had bought a lovely long red off-the-shoulder dress that hugged her gorgeous figure tightly, her long hair hung loose and it was tucked behind her ears, which this time didn't display large rings, but glittery little silver ones with a single red heart hanging down an inch or so. And on her fingers there were no rings, none except that special one on her ring finger. She'd kept her usual necklaces, because they went everywhere she went.

Heads would certainly turn when they walked into the ballroom arm in arm that night.

A wandering waiter had approached her as she stood to Otis's left, close to his heart, while they both took in the light show and watched the first dancers circling the floor. The waiter passed her a glass from a tray and said, "Miss Wiley, a drink from a Mr Milburn. He asked me to call it "The Chester Cocktail". I hope you like it.  
She adored it.

When the band started to play a slow waltz, he took her hand, kissed it, and asked, "May I have this dance? It would give me the greatest pleasure to have the prettiest girl in the world dancing cheek-to-cheek with me."

"Pssst, Otis, it would be a pleasure, but... um... you can't dance. You don't do the ballroom stuff."

To this he responded with a wicked little smile, "Trust me." And she just couldn't say no.

He led her to the floor, and took the lead for the slow waltz. He held her close and showed such an effortless, natural rhythm as they circled the floor. She felt she was dancing on air.

"Wow, Otis! When.... where..... how.. did you learn to dance like this?"

"This is beginners' stuff. .. Wait till we do the tango. It's the sexiest dance ever. And you're the sexiest dancepartner ever......"

"Otis! You haven't answered my questi............."

"Maeve, I lied to you."

"Whaaaat??!"

"I wasn't playing games with Eric while you were at the library. I went to dancing class."

She almost missed the 1-2-3, 1-2-3 rhythm of the waltz, but he was the perfect leader. He was also the perfect liar. But only when he knew his little lies would make her happy.

Her head dropped to his shoulder as she grinned to herself.  
"Listen, Milburn. I thought I knew you, but you keep surprising me with all this stuff. It will take the rest of my life to get to know the intricate workings of your brain completely. And then some."

He whispered into her ear, and she could hear it above the music as he kissed her neck over the red heart hanging there. "I quote, from the amazing, the beautiful, the fantastic Maeve Wiley herself: 'Please, I want you with me forever, and longer.'"

She almost stopped his heart with her I Love You smile.

"Still good on that, Maeve Wiley?"

"Yep."

After the tango, all she wanted was to take him home.

"Wait just a bit, Maeve. The Bentley is booked for a little later."

"Ha ha."

She saw through that one because she knew they'd be walking home in the moonlight.

Across that bridge.

Walking? No. Floating. Together. Forever.


	46. Goodbye, Moordale Secondary

Otis and Maeve had been in their own little bubble at the ball, just dancing and staring into each other's eyes. It was as if nothing, or nobody else existed outside their romantic little world.

Things were happening outside that bubble, though.

So many of the girls were staring at Maeve's ring, wondering why it was the only one she was wearing. There'd normally be tons of others. And it was on the wedding ring finger. Her dress was pretty hot, too.

And a lot of the pretty girls there were stealing glances at Otis. Where was the clumsy, introverted, insecure weirdo? He was leading Maeve in ballroom dances and they looked perfect together. More than one of the other girls also had a secret crush on him. Those ocean-blue eyes......

Aimee and Steve had also come up to say hello. Maeve's best friend was as bubbly as ever. "Where did you get the dress?? It's GORGEOUS! Did he give you those earrings? I LOVE the little red hearts. I knew you were a good dancer, Maeve, but WHERE did Otis learn to dance like that??"

Maeve needed to know too. 

He explained that the dancing classes were not only for the Graduation Ball, but also for the formal events up at Cambridge. 

Aimee giggled and asked, in her usual direct way, "Was your dance instructor hot, Otis? Did she hold you tight?"

Only a few months ago, Otis would have blushed a deep red, but now he answered, as cool as a cucumber, to both Aimee and Maeve, who also had a questioning look about her.

"She was about 94, Aimee."

Giggles all round again.

"No, seriously, I'd put her in her late fifties, but she bloody well knew her stuff. Mum did a few steps with me too, out on the deck."

And to Maeve, "Are your toes OK? Not too much damage, I hope?"

"Dickhead!" And to herself, "Mmm he can dance. That'll be nice at his place under the moon and stars............"

Teasing Otis, Maeve then asked Steve, "Shall we do the foxtrot?"

Steve looked at his girlfriend uneasily.

Aimee immediately responded as only Aimee could.

"Permission granted, Steve. That means I get to dance with lover-boy here!"

Steve held Maeve in the most proper, gentlemanly manner as they circled the floor. Maeve immediately felt his muscles, but they did absolutely nothing for her.

Aimee had a slightly tighter grip on Otis, the "pleasure master". She kept telling him, "You two are so good together, Otis. Maeve told me way back that she loved you, but was too scared to show her feelings. But I knew all along that you were perfect for her."

Jackson had also come up to say hello. His manner was correct, not over-friendly, and anyway he had Viv clinging on to him like a limpet.

Adam and Eric hardly let go of each other's hands and left early.

"Probably off to the junkyard to smash things up," Otis joked to Maeve.

"That can be quite cathartic, Otis. Funny how stuff like that can bond girls together."

"Huh?"

They had shared everything with each other, but this seemed to have slipped below the radar. She'd tell him one day about how she had managed to find distraction and solidarity after that awful party. But forgiveness was a great thing and she knew she could never, ever have shut him out of her world.

As the partygoers gradually left the school grounds that night, they realised they wouldn't be coming back. They'd be going their separate ways, some to college, some to work.

But for Maeve and Otis, Moordale was only a stepping-stone. Yes, it held wonderful memories for both of them, and had helped them grow and mature. A perfect grounding for Cambridge.

But first there was the walk home over the bridge, and the night to come.

Maeve trembled as Otis put his arm around her and gripped her shoulder. She would never, ever forget that bridge.


	47. What's this in my pocket?

In the bright moonlight, with the stars twinkling, they slowed down on that bridge and stopped. 

They turned to face each other and as Otis was about to take her in his arms and kiss her, she whispered, "Otis, you're always so full of surprises, but now it's my turn."

"Really? You don't have a hatchet hidden somewhere in case I forgot the exact spot on the bridge where it happened?"

"Ha ha. You'd never forget, dickhead. You're so full of mystery and cunning plans, but this much I know..... We always seem to slow down when we approach this spot, and here we are again. Bang on target."

"Yep."

"Now, Otis, I want you to do something for me."

What on earth could she want now? This was the kiss-on-the-bridge moment. She didn't have to ask him to kiss her. That would come naturally. It was telepathy. He was genuinely puzzled.

"Of course I will, Maeve. But it has to be the kiss first."

"That will come, dickhead, as sure as night follows day. But first........."

He had absolutely no idea what she had planned. This time it was he who was going to be surprised. He was pretty good at surprising her, and it made sense that she might want to surprise him back. But how could she have prepared for this? The kiss was so close to happening right now that any surprise couldn't possibly be made.

"I'm reading your mind, Otis, and I can see that you're absolutely clueless."

"I am, Miss Wiley. OK,.....surprise me, but be quick about it. I need that kiss."

"Coming right up, Otis Milburn," she said in the most seductive sultry voice he'd ever heard. " Look in your right jacket pocket."

Well, there wasn't going to be a kiss in there. He felt inside and his fingers made contact with two things. Where on earth had they come from?  
A small, familiar feeling plastic packet. It couldn't be anything else. That had to be a condom. Oh my god. The other thing was made of fabric. Flimsy, silk red fabric. Maeve Wiley's tiny sexy red panties.  
She was naked underneath that hot red dress.  
During a bathroom break before they left, she had removed her underwear, and as he briefly went over to Steve and Aimee to say goodbye, she had slipped them, and the condom, into his jacket, which had been hanging over his chair.

With his hand still in his pocket, she passionately grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him. Hard. On the lips. She inserted her tongue. In one more flowing movement she was unzipping his fly and pulling his rapidly erecting cock out of his trousers.

He tore the plastic open and slipped the condom on. Very much more rapidly than in the Biology lab, when she had watched him trying, but failing, to apply the condom then.

She pulled her mouth back from his, an inch or two, and whispered, so, so wickedly,

"Surprise."

With her back against the bridge parapet, she reached for the base of his spine and pulled him urgently towards her.

"Teamwork, Milburn. Get my breasts out of my dress while I hitch it up from down there up around my waist. I need you inside me. Now." 

Their passionate movements were swift and efficient. Her soft beautiful breasts were now out for him to suck them and she had expertly lifted up her red dress and exposed her vagina for him.

"Fuck me, Otis. Fuck me hard. Do it now, Otis, do it now. I need your cock inside me. Deep and hard." 

This had him in paroxysms of lust and an overpowering need to fuck her so hard. Right there. On the bridge.

He grabbed her bare backside and pulled her onto his engorged cock as she parted her silky thighs. He was in her and thrusting hard as she gasped and moaned in transports of sexual delight. "God I need you. Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me. Don't stop. I want you and I need you. Fuck me, Otis. Fuck me good and hard."

"God, Maeve your tits are so hot. I could suck them forever. I want you and I need you. I love your mind, but now I need your hot body more than ever. Give it to me. I need to fuck you so bad."

"Shut up and do it, Otis. Now. Harder."

They found a rhythm that was rapid and so, so arousing. Their unchained lust for hot open-air sex filled them to overflowing. She felt the cool air on her bare backside and tingling tits and needed him more than ever.

She came, with his mouth on her tits, as he sucked them and sent tingles flashing down the superhighway of nerves that linked her nipples to her clitoris, to all eight thousand aching, yearning nerve endings. She shuddered and trembled and screamed his name as his thick hot cum welled up in his balls and surged down his rigid thrusting shaft, spurting hard and long inside her.

And not much later, in her bed, they continued, this time much more lazily. It was going to be a very long night.

He awoke, quite late, to see her red dress draped over a chair and his eyes moved to her beautiful hair as she lay in his arms, her peaceful, sleeping face, and her beautiful bare breasts, exposed above the summer duvet.

Her eyes opened slowly and her lips formed the sweetest smile as she whispered, "Summer holidays, we can do this as much as we want now."

He replied wordlessly with his blue eyes and kissed her gently on her pretty lips, pulling her close.

At breakfast they talked about where they might want to go away next. She had chosen Cambridge and London for the last trip, and now it was his turn to pick somewhere. She didn't care where he took her. It would be another first, for sure.

"How do you like the Channel Islands, Maeve? There are flights to Jersey from Cardiff, and it has the best weather in all of the UK because it's so close to Cherbourg, on the French coast."

"Great," she enthused. "I'll book a hotel."

"No need, Maeve. Mum has a colleague who owns an apartment there. She can arrange for us to have it and save money for Cambridge. Good?"

Maeve Wiley still needed to pinch herself. Her good luck just seemed to be growing constantly, ever since she'd forgiven him and told him she loved him like crazy by the bike racks that afternoon. The money they'd save on accommodation would come in handy for Cambridge. As a bonus, her college, Pembroke, was only half a mile on foot from his, which would be Kings. 

Otis kissed her and said, "Nobody in the world deserves good luck more than you, Maeve. And I'm so glad it's me who can share it with you......for the rest of our lives. I really do love you above everything else on this earth."

"Ditto, dickhead."


	48. Summer holidays

"What are you going to do while I'm at the library full-time in the holidays, Otis?"

They were having breakfast on the deck outside his house in the summer sunshine, and Maeve would be starting at the library in two days' time.

"I guess I'll start some light reading for Cambridge."

"You won't need to do any more dancing lessons, dickhead. You were damn near perfect at the ball."

"Thank you for the kind compliment, Miss Wiley. You were the perfect partner, in all sorts of ways. It was quite a memorable evening, and I found some nice stuff in my pocket, too.........."

She grinned at him wickedly. "Summer, Otis. We can do all sorts of interesting stuff in the open air. There are so many open fields around Moordale."

"Yep, Do you know, other than the time you pushed me into the pool and called me the Cookie Monster, we haven't been swimming at all. That would be fun."

"Otis, you know I was madly in love with you even back then, when I stroked your eyebrows in the pool. We could go to the river........ maybe at night too, with nothing on...... skinny-dipping. Do try not to get a boner this time though......"

"If it's dark, nobody would see, Maeve. You'd feel it though."

He smiled wickedly and took out his phone.

"You want me to pose out here on the deck for you, Otis? With or without my undies on?"

He laughed and flipped through some of his most recent photos.

"Here, look who I saw swimming the other day. And if you need to run for a hatchet, there's one in the garden shed."

"Why would I need a hatchet, dickhead?"

"Promise you won't hack me to pieces? I took these 'for research purposes only.' How do you think you'd look in one of these?"

He passed her the phone and, filling the display was a picture of a stunningly beautiful girl emerging from the river in a very tiny black bikini that was only decent by a very small margin. It was the Italian girl, Angelina.

Again, they were both so at ease with each other. A photo like this could have been cause for a breakup in a relationship. But Maeve knew he wouldn't even look at another girl. Well, he'd look, but there'd be no consequences.

She giggled. "Yep, Otis, ......research. Ha ha. She's hot, and she wears the bikini well. I like it."

In turn, she pulled out her phone and also showed him a picture.

"This one will be on its way in the post in the next day or two. Like it?"

He looked at it and gasped. A fashion model was wearing a bikini that was just as tiny, if not a bit tinier, than Angelina's little one.

"Shall I wear it for daytime or midnight swims?" 

It was going to be a hot summer.

Swimming in the sea was going to be an option too, because there were so many great beaches in Jersey, just off the coast of France, in the English Channel.  
They'd be flying in early September and staying for 10 days. The apartment would be kept free for them. It was up on a hill with a great view, about a mile from the nearest beach. Walking on the beach at sunset was also an option. When the tide went out, and the difference between high and low water was around 25 feet, a huge amount of beach and rock pools would be exposed and there for exploring.  
Maeve imagined adding marine biology to her huge range of interests with places like the Channel Islands to explore.

The scenery she'd seen in pictures online was amazing, with rocks and green trees and farmland and little country and coast roads. Jersey cattle were famous worldwide, and the butter was thick and yellow and creamy.

Jersey, as well as the neighbouring islands of Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, had been in British hands since the 14th century, when they were taken from the French, who attempted to retake them several times, but failed.   
For this reason, castles and fortresses, cannon batteries and observation posts are still dotted around the island. More recent fortifications, including huge concrete German bunkers and gun emplacements had been added in WWII, when the islands were the only part of Britain to be under Nazi control.   
Streets still keep their names in French today, giving the island a French flair, and tourism flourishes, with many people coming over from the mainland to spend their holidays there because of the mild weather. Tropical plants and flowers are found in abundance all over the island.

What a wonderful, peaceful way to spend their holiday before the "serious learning" to come at Cambridge.


	49. Summertime

The period between early July and late September holds lots of memories in most people's lives. Very often happy ones, in warm sunshine, with little or no work pressure.

It would be the same for Maeve and Otis, even though she'd be kept busy at the library, and Otis with his pre-Cambridge reading.

But weekends and long evenings after work could be spent together, which they did.

All Otis wanted to do was make Maeve happy. Her past life had been far from happiness, and she'd never BEEN anywhere. Knowledge from books and google helped, but it wasn't like the real thing. 

To be honest, Maeve Wiley would have been perfectly happy just staring into his blue eyes on the deck or on her balcony, but she realised more and more that this was the chance to experience wonderful things, and she was going to take full advantage. With her mind free of awful stuff, she could also find ways to make Otis happy. She loved it just seeing him smile, and she had done since that day in the Biology lab.

So that summer was kind of timeless and what happened would not seem to have any logical chronological order to it, other than the fixed dates for Jersey.

Otis's phone buzzed on one of those mornings. 

"Boring," he joked to himself. "Just another I Love You message."

The picture she attached was far from boring though.

Maeve's body language and endless range of facial expressions looked even more varied, happy, and contented since they'd held hands and kissed by the bike racks. She was so photogenic and took a damn good selfie.

Her smiling face was featured in this particular one in the hot new black bikini. OH MY GOD. 

The image was so sexy and at the same time it exuded a happiness and pure "glad to be alive" feeling.

"Let's go swimming after work, Otis. You still don't know how deeply I love you, but I'll be happy to make your picture a little more complete. I DO love you, you immense dickhead xx"

Again she expected a "simple" I Love You back. But she collapsed, yet again, in tears of laughter when he replied.

"Hmm. Let me check my diary. Bit busy, but I might be able to fit you in just after 5pm. My secretary will reply ASAP with a confirmation xx"

She wiped the tears of sheer joy from her eyes and cheeks and waited. A full ten minutes.

Her phone buzzed again. She was still holding it. She just couldn't put it down.

"It's me again. I sent Miss Busybody out for doughnuts. I'll bring one in for you about 11am. And dammit I was so rude, didn't even compliment you on THAT STUNNING BIKINI. Are they even allowed in public?? I look forward to untying it later..... I. LOVE. YOU. Endlessly.......xx"

Maeve Wiley quoted to herself what Lily had said when she first saw Rahim. 'I think I just had a very small orgasm.'

And she nearly melted when he arrived with a kiss and a doughnut at 11. "I'll bring a picnic later. I seem to remember you like picnics in romantic spots."

"I do........You liked it then?"

"What, doughnuts? Yep, yummy."

She knew he was joking. He didn't need to use words to compliment her on her new swimsuit. His ocean-blue eyes said it all.

Later, by the river, she looked even more amazing than in that selfie. They'd found a quiet spot despite the busy summer season where the river formed a natural pool about six feet deep, with little or no current.  
They played like happy kids in the cool water and words like 'I don't do boyfriends' and 'Just one more thing to let you down' and 'Cookie Monster' were exchanged. Only the passage of time would let her down now. She'd wanted these moments in the river, like so many others with him, to last forever. Especially when his hardon rubbed against her thighs and practically bare backside in the water.....

Time did move on and they loved the picnic in the warm evening air. 

And as the moon showed itself by the peaceful river, reflecting in the mirror of the water, she let him untie the strings on her bikini.

Yet another evening to remember, and record in detail in that five-year diary that she treasured oh so much. 

How many times had she written it??  
'Otis, you're my everything and I'll never, ever leave you.'


	50. Jean needs help

Maeve Wiley could see there was something wrong with him as soon as she answered the door.

"Otis, what's wrong?"

He blurted out, "It's mum, Maeve. She's pregnant. And I'm pretty sure she wants to abort."

Maeve's eyes widened, and her brain went straight into 'Otis needs help' mode. 

It was clear what she thought, and knew, about terminations. The clinic had been awful, but she had been through hypnotherapy, and only looked at the positive sides of her own experience. 

She tenderly held his hand as she soothed his worried mind. She remembered him waiting for her with those flowers. The walk home and the way she had opened up to him about her innermost thoughts. The hug and the sandwich text. And falling in love with him........

She imagined Jean going through the same procedure at the clinic. 

"When did you find out, Otis?"

"I went into her office this morning to get some paper for the printer and saw her phone book open on her desk. It was open on the page with the number of the clinic."

"Could she have been looking for the number for a client?"

"She's been having the typical morning sickness, Maeve. She said it was something she'd eaten. And what I don't understand is that she knows all about abortions through her job. She knows they are routine procedures, just like you do, but there's also her age to consider. She's a professional, Maeve but I know, I just know she's worried sick. And that makes me worry too."

Maeve read his mind, like an open book. "And you think I could be the one to reassure her that it's not as bad as she thinks it might be?"

"Maeve, I know you said you'd kill me if I told anybody about your abortion. And I haven't told a soul. Not even mum, or Eric."

"You're right, Otis, but I was thinking about somebody in school finding out. I know and love Jean. She's wonderful. This would be different."

He couldn't understand, even though he knew her so well, how she would be able to do anything.  
"Maeve it would be a huge breach of trust if I told anybody you'd aborted. I owe that to you, because you trust and love me. And how could I tell her I'd been snooping around in her office? And that I knew, through you, a lot about the procedure?"

Then she said something so, so wonderful.

"I've got this, Otis. Leave it to me. Trust me. It's OK. I love you."

That sounded so familiar, only it had normally been him saying it after one of her nightmares, or after seeing Elsie at Sarah's.

But something, deep, deep down, told Otis Milburn that Maeve may have a solution to this. 

She picked up her phone and called Jean. 

"Can I come round for a chat, Jean? Woman to woman....... No don't worry. It's not about Otis. We're fine. But I love you like a mum, and I know you like me too. Five o'clock OK?"

Gosh, she could be so persuasive sometimes. His mum had agreed.

Maeve got straight to the point almost the moment she arrived at the red house on the hill and told Jean about what she'd repeated constantly in her diary. 'He waited, he brought me flowers, and I love him so much.' 

"I'm finding out more about Otis every day through you, Maeve. I knew he was lovely, and so dedicated, but now I can understand why you fell for him. He did wonderful things for you that day and I'm so proud of him."

Maeve held Jean's hand as she spoke, so reassuringly. "He's one in a million, and he kept his promise about not telling anybody what I'd been through. If you'd like, Jean, I could try and get in touch with Sarah, who was in for an abortion on the same day as me. She's closer to your age, and she's come through three abortions. She will only confirm what I'm telling you now. 'It wasn't so bad, was it?' And yes, of course there's a tiny risk, but that risk occurs every time you get a full anaesthetic."

"Maeve, dear, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried any more, but I'm not half as much now as before you came to see me. I feel like an idiot. But somehow I feel I can trust you and talk to you about this.....There's something about you....."

"Well, Jean, there's also something about Otis that makes me so sure everything will be all right if I'm feeling down, whenever he opens his mouth. I'm not a doctor, but let's just call this female intuition. I just KNOW you're going to be OK."

This was just one more instance of either Maeve or Otis finding a solution to a tricky problem. They had this worked out to perfection.

Otis was so relieved when she told him how the talk with his mum had gone, and could only marvel at her as she worked this one out. And she instilled confidence in him too.

'It's OK. Trust me. I've got this. I love you.'


	51. The keys to Maeve Wiley's heart

Otis arrived home after buying another video game to help pass the time until she came home from work. Yes, there was reading to do for Cambridge, but a little distraction wouldn't do any harm.

On the kitchen worktop he saw a padded envelope addressed to him. Jean had left it there for him on her way out for coffee with Maureen Groff.

He immediately recognised the handwriting on the small parcel and his heart glowed.

He remembered the Biology worksheet he'd filled in with Maeve in the lab with her handwriting on the top.  
'Maeve and Otis'. Those names went so well together.

She'd sent him a parcel.

A few days earlier, Maeve had been on her way home from work. She had a purposeful spring in her step and a look in her eyes that would have told anybody that she was on a mission.  
It was not always busy at the library and she'd had lots of time to think there. Otis was so good at surprising her with his loving gestures and she, in turn, had managed to surprise him too, but she felt she needed to catch up with him.  
In the past, her head had only been full of anger and hate, and even after she'd discovered her feelings of deep love for him, she still couldn't have afforded material gifts, no matter how little they might have cost.  
Now, this was her competitive spirit showing, and when the idea popped into her head, she knew the surprise would be special. Her smile widened as she entered the hardware store and headed straight for the counter, where a second idea entered her brilliant mind after seeing something out of the corner of her eye. 

Otis Milburn had no clue as to what this parcel could hold. It felt solid and strong, like it was made to last, and his fingers trembled as he carefully removed the wrapping. He was not going to damage anything with her lovely handwriting on it.

The counter Maeve had approached was that of the locksmith, who cut and copied keys and also sold keyrings, fobs and larger tags for hotels and guesthouses. He had asked her if she wanted anything engraved on the wooden key tag, to which she shook her head of brown hair and replied with a smile that would have overpowered and disarmed the most heartless of men, "It's just fine as it is, thanks."

Otis saw that the larger of the two items was an oldfashioned metal key, quite large, with a wooden tag attached, bearing the number 6. 

The smaller was a simple set of two perfectly normal house keys on a small silver ring. The two items were tied together with a small red ribbon. He didn't need the letter she'd written to explain what those keys meant. Both those metallic objects were symbolic of an everlasting love and trust that, quite literally, made him cry with tears of sweet emotion. Oh my god he loved her so much. 

The number 6, which she'd painted in black on the tag, the same colour as on the essay award, had been the number of the room in that lovely little B&B in Chester, and there was a distinct similarity between this key and the room key they'd had in the guesthouse.

He went to the sofa, his heart racing, to read what she'd written in her neat handwriting.

"Hello Otis. Surprised? Well, you know how I hate grand gestures, except for me asking you to marry me, which was pretty grand in itself. This one is one I can get just right because you always have more time to write a letter, think about it, and word it with feeling and love.  
"Yes, we can talk and whisper I Love You, but you also have this gift of writing the most wonderful things in the most wonderful ways, dickhead, and I felt I needed to repay you with a carefully considered letter. Yes, Otis. This is my love letter to you..  
"The keys, as you've probably guessed, are copies of the keys to my front door and flat. My home will always be your home too, and you won't have to ring a bell to get in now. So I got them cut for you, which was a kind of plan.

"The key with the number 6 was unplanned, I just saw it out of the corner of my eye and bought it too. It's quite similar to the one we had in Chester, Otis. And we won't forget in a hurry what that weekend meant to both of us. I thought the key and tag would make a nice little present to show you how much I adore you.  
"The house keys show my love for you too, but more than that, (Oh Otis, what could possibly mean more than my love for you?) they show how much I TRUST you. Whenever you say 'trust me' I just know I can count on you to be brilliant, kind, loving and caring.....and work your amazing magic. Otis, I've been under your spell ever since that day in the Biology lab.

Anyway, dickhead, you got the message and the keys to my heart and soul, but I can't seem to stop writing. The words I want to say will be familiar, but I can't stop repeating them in my mind as I write them. You're the best thing that ever, ever happened to me. You're my everything, and honestly, Otis, I still can't believe this is happening to me.

I love you, Otis. Like crazy." 

Sweet, sweet kisses,  
Maeve xxxx 

He would read that letter countless times over the years, and still feel the intense emotions, as if he were reading it for the first time.

Otis still couldn't believe it either. But here they were, and it wasn't a dream. They would have a lovely summer ahead, and Jersey and Cambridge, and the rest of their lives together.


	52. A riverside chat

Maeve was locking up at the library when her phone buzzed.

"They open doors, they lock doors, we use them without thinking about them. Normal, everyday things, really."

Was Maeve Wiley angry or upset that he hadn't said thankyou? Or put any kisses at the end? No I Love You??  
No.

She let that glow spread through her mind and body. He'd done the unexpected yet again, even with a simple text.

And fast as lightning she sent him an emoji of a very angry little man, exploding with rage. And grinned. The next text would be on its way soon, she knew it.

Buzzzz....

"And you don't think twice about keys really. But as of right now, or five minutes ago, I 'll look at them and feel them jingling in my pocket, and think of them in an entirely different light, Maeve Wiley. I'm proud and privileged to own the keys to your heart and home. You're brilliant, you're unique, you're mine and I love you so much xx"

She smiled sweetly.

That second message was more what she expected, but she still loved the words, even though they had both repeated them so many times.

"Pick me up and let's have a cold beer by the river, dickhead. I love you. Like crazy xx"

"OK. And you write a lovely letter too......."

Again, no kisses.

She waited.

Buzzzz

"I'll give you the missing kisses later. I do need your sweet lips on mine, Maeve xx"

No matter how tired Maeve Wiley was at night, even after hours of reading academic texts, she always re-read his texts and invariably drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face and with deep love in her half-closed eyes. And not a single nightmare. 

When they met outside the library soon afterwards, Maeve swore she could see a different look in his blue eyes. It was still lovely, making butterflies dance happily, but that look seemed to show a new chapter had opened up in their sweet love story.

They kissed and both of them couldn't stop smiling.

On a bench by the riverside path and to the lazy sounds of summer in the early evening, he held her hand tightly and gave her a second-by-second account of how he'd reacted from the moment he saw the parcel on the kitchen worktop.  
He was such a good storyteller that she could picture every moment. He made such sweet comments on the simplest things he'd experienced, from her beautiful handwriting, to a parcel, the strong contents of which he felt had been made to last (metal keys, lasting trust and love), and he didn't hide anything. He told her the keys and her beautiful letter had made him cry, but exactly the right sort of tears.

"I can see them now, Otis. Just let me kiss them away." And she did.

As the birds sang, the sheep called to their lambs, and distant tractors started on the harvest, to the sound of ducks splashing as they landed on the river, to the happy chatter of people enjoying a warm summer evening, everything was right with the world.

And there was even good news.

"Maeve, mum's going through with the abortion. Thanks to you and your reassuring chats with her she feels much better about it. She even said she was proud of me for waiting and giving you the flowers..........."  
She interrupted briefly and with all her love, "Otis I love you."  
"Of course I waited. Most natural thing in the world, Maeve."  
He continued after her sweet kiss, which was filled with her emotions as she'd remembered them when she saw him in the waiting room and when the sandwich text came in.  
"It won't be exactly as we'd picture it from your time at the clinic. It'll be done at a different, private clinic 30 miles away. And Jakob will be the one with the flowers."  
"Stop, Otis. Just give me a moment or two to think. I'm still processing how I fell in love with you that day...... and it's wonderful."

"OK, Maeve I'll just fiddle around with these silly keys while you reflect."

"Dickhead."

Later, he tried the new keys after walking her home. A perfect fit.

And they lay in each other's arms on the bed that night. There was no lovemaking. They just fell asleep gazing into each other's eyes, stroking each other's hair. Their thoughts were identical. On some days, things just turned out right. Perfectly and sweetly right.


	53. A tunnel to Australia

Because she'd missed out on so much in her life, Maeve was experiencing so many things for the first time, which excited her no end, and even more exciting, she was experiencing them with Otis Milburn.  
She was like the little girl who had never seen the sea before. She had never flown before, and she'd never felt sweet love like this before.  
So what would have been routine, everyday stuff to most people, was like a huge new adventure for her. She also had the benefit of high intelligence and a brain that exceeded the powers of most people her age...so the little girl's excitement was complemented by a grown-up's appreciation of what was happening to her. It wouldn't be a child who was seeing the sea and flying above the clouds.  
The weather was perfect for the flight to Jersey. Jean had dropped them off at Cardiff airport, and of course it was Maeve who wanted to do the check-in and all the airport stuff. She had a window seat and next to her, holding her hand, was her perfect dickhead.  
How could people be afraid of flying when it was so exciting? The acceleration of the plane as it sped down the runway and lifting off to see the world getting smaller as they gained height. There was a perfect view of the Bristol Channel, the southwest coast of England and the little white waves on the sea as they crossed the English Channel.  
The flight attendants were so friendly and kind as she told them several times it was her first flight. There was something about Maeve Wiley's personality that endeared her to all the cabin crew and they were happy to do that little bit extra for her.  
Landing was just as much fun. She was amazed that the flaps on the wings and the lowering of the undercarriage could reduce the speed of the plane so efficiently. The landing was smooth and she was pushed forward in her seat as the plane decelerated.  
There had been some unfamiliar sounds during the flight that did make her squeeze Otis's hand a little tighter, but he was always ready to explain what was happening. The noise as the undercarriage came up and tucked itself under the wings, the minor turbulence that actually made the wings bend in mid air.  
What did make her jump was the feeling caused by some sudden turbulence as the plane seemed to bump quite hard, like a car going over a large stone in the road, making a few of the passengers gasp. The pilot had immediately come through on the intercom with the comforting words, "Cabin crew, normal service."

They were through arrivals quickly and into a taxi (Could you believe it? The driver was from Moordale and had moved to Jersey with his family as a teenager) to take them on a 20-minute ride along the coast and through green country lanes to the apartment, where a facility manager showed them how everything worked after answering the door to them. And they enjoyed a glass of wine on the balcony, with a view of the sea. But there would be more time for relaxing on the balcony later, because both of them wanted to walk down the hill to the beach, just under a mile away.

Otis smiled lovingly at her as her pace quickened, the little girl in her needing to see the sea and the beach close up. "Shall I buy you a bucket and spade?"

"Dickhead."

"Aww, go on, bury me up to my neck in the sand, collect shells, dig a tunnel to Australia, build a castle called Otis Towers."

As they watched crap TV on the sofa that evening, pleasantly tired after the walk and some wine with the pasta they'd cooked, both of them were deep in thought as they squeezed each other's hands. 

This was going to be their perfect, first, late summer holiday. Together.


	54. The discarded sweater

With 10 days' holiday stretching out ahead of you, it was always great to wake up on the first morning. The smell of salt sea air, fresh coffee and bacon sizzling in the pan greeted Maeve as she woke up, wondering where she was for the first few moments.  
Otis had already drawn back the curtains and there was a small patch of blue in the cloudy skies, which looked like it was going to get bigger as the morning went on. He poured her a coffee and as he passed it to her, she cupped his hand and kissed his cheek. Was there any need to ask if she was happy?  
No.  
The sound of gulls calling and screeching added to the seaside atmosphere, and when she flipped on the radio, her heart glowed. The first few minutes of that morning were pretty close to perfection, but when one of your favourite songs comes on, you just know you're in heaven. Ezra was singing "her song" about every feeling in the book. She'd made it the theme to the sandwich-text moment, and in the holiday apartment, she fell in love with him all over again.  
Otis grinned and told her he liked playing along on bass to it; it was strangely reminiscent of Dylan's Knocking on Heaven's Door. She said she preferred the Guns and Roses version, but hey, the world would be a very boring place if everybody had the same tastes.

That patch of blue sky was growing as they enjoyed a long breakfast at the table in the dining area with a view out of a nice big window, and planned their day. Amongst other things, the info-pack that came with the apartment included a bus timetable. St. Helier, the capital, was 15 minutes away and the bus stop was 200 yards from their front door.

The locals spoke English, of course, some with a west-country accent, but they pronounced the French street names as they asked for tickets in the correct French way, but with no trace of a French accent.

The central bus station was minutes away from the port and marina, and Otis said he wanted to see where all the yachts came from. Jersey was a tax haven and the very expensive-looking yachts in the harbour came from all over the world. Maeve loved reading where the boats were registered and instantly wanted to travel to all those exotic places. Her time would come.

They were enjoying a Cornish pasty and a cup of tea by the harbour wall when he asked her, "Did you know there was no such thing as a seagull, Maeve?"

"Dickhead. They're flying all round the place, or was it vultures that woke me up this morning?"

"Nope, they're commonly known as seagulls, but it isn't the correct ornithological term. There are common gulls, herring gulls, black-headed gulls and........

Maeve screamed. With its wings spread, a large member of one of those species swooped down onto their table and stole three-quarters of a pasty from Otis's plate. They looked really big, close up. The meat and potato pastry was carried a few yards from the table, and the gull proceeded to consume it with relish.  
They both recovered, but knew they should be eating those snacks indoors in future. Actually they were less of a nuisance in different parts of the island. The locals could tell them if their pasties and fish and chips would be safe or not if they ate them outdoors.  
Otis would jokingly shake his fist in anger whenever they saw one. "You owe me a pasty, or a fiver, idiot-gull!" She had been shocked but this was nature. It was just so funny to see Otis cursing the creatures in mock anger.

The skies were clear by late afternoon so it was back for a swim at their beach. Sweaters were then needed in the cooler part of the evening as they walked hand-in-hand along the huge beach, exposed by the receding tide.

Sweaters.

"Otis? Please forgive me."

"What?"

"Remember when you sent me the essay trophy and that letter?"

"Yep."

"I haven't told you this, but I got so emotional after reading your letter that I grabbed your sweater, which was always under my pillow, and rushed to your place to give it back and tell you how much I loved you. When I got there I saw you and Ola....... ... I was heartbroken, I was frustrated, I was angry, and I turned and ran back to the caravan. Shortly before I got there I tossed your sweater away, and I'm so, so sorry."

And her tears of regret stained her pretty cheeks.

" But Otis..... I've had time to think about this, and we made up anyway.... but in truth, I was more angry with MYSELF for leaving things so late. Poor communication messed things up for me, so it was basically my fault. I should have told you I loved you as we talked by the lockers about Adam's essay. You hadn't met Ola then and I guess it would have been the perfect time to tell you how I felt. But I messed up. I'm so glad things have worked out, and I want you to know I don't blame you at all. But my stupid brain just wasn't working properly.  
"When I got back, Aimee was waiting for me, wanting to play cards. She knew something was wrong and was so kind and supportive, and she told me, even then, that I was an idiot and she knew you were the right guy for me. So I'm not blaming you for any of that ......."

Otis took her in his loving arms and held her tight. Taking out a handkerchief, he wiped away her tears and said "Thank you for being honest and thank you for telling me. Maeve, it's all in the past and as it turned out, Ola wasn't the girl for me. It's always been you. Yes, I forgive you and my timing was also so poor, as well as my communication. Let's forget about it now. For the last few beautiful weeks we've known we're right for each other, and that's all that matters. After all ......." and he reached into his pocket and took out the keys, jingling them in front of her face "I have the keys to your heart, and you have owned mine since we talked on the swings."  
And he tenderly took her face in his hands, stroked her eyelids with his thumbs and asked, "All good?"  
Her kiss told him it was. 

"OK, Let's have the rest of the wine in the fridge with dinner to celebrate. We're perfect, Maeve Wiley, and don't you forget it."


	55. The tour and the workshop

They put together a quick risotto and had the chilled white wine with it. The night sky they saw from the dining table was starry and they also saw the lights of the next small town twinkling in the distance. It also had a fortress that was floodlit, which added to the effect.

They agreed the best way to see the island was to do a bus tour. Although it was getting late, they called the nearest hotel, which was a pickup point for the tour, and asked if there were any seats free for the next day. They were in luck, and were told they could pay on the coach at 10.15 the next morning.

It was to be a circular tour of the coastline, taking in castles, lighthouses, watchtowers, pretty little bays and harbours, clifftop views, lunch at a visitors centre, and coffee at a pearl workshop and store.  
Any places on the tour that they particularly liked they could revisit and spend more time looking around later in the holiday. 

The driver, who was also the guide, was in a particularly good mood because the sun was shining. He'd said that all the previous week, the island had been shrouded in fog, and he could only show his passengers photos of the sights as they passed. He also explained that the island buses were less wide than the usual bus, because of the narrow and winding country roads, but comfortable enough.

The sea was a deep blue, turquoise nearer the beaches and more like a Mediterranean colour rather than the English Channel, which all too often was a cold cheerless grey.

They loved the Corbiere lighthouse and had time to clamber over the rocks nearby. The biggest castle on the tour, at Gorey harbour, was their favourite and they both wanted to return.  
As they approached the pearl workshop, Otis excitedly said "Vroom, vroom!" when he saw six Aston Martin sports cars on the car park. The island Aston Martin club had stopped there for a break. Maeve giggled excitedly as she saw the Aston Martin DB5 there, which had featured as a Bond car in Goldfinger. "If Sean Connery asked me out on a date, I'd dump you just like that, Milburn," as she snapped her fingers and grinned.  
"OK, Maeve, I'll have Angelina while you're with Connery."

"Dickhead!"

Funnily enough, Maeve enjoyed Jersey Pearl much more than she'd expected. She'd thought pearls were for old ladies, but some of the work there was stunning.

St. Brelade's Bay was a huge sandy bay with a long promenade and beautiful gardens. They'd probably revisit for an afternoon too.

After the 8-hour tour, they returned to the apartment and had time for another walk on the beach, this time with no tears from Maeve, before dinner and bed, where she wore white.

The following morning they awoke to rain and thick cloud, which had set in for the day. Maeve decided she'd spend a day with her books. "What about you Otis? More Cambridge reading?"  
"Actually, Maeve. I think I'll take the bus to those WWII bunkers on the coast for a look round and a windy walk on the beach, unless you want me to stay."

"That's OK, Otis, I think I'll survive, as long as you won't be meeting up with Angelina there. Ha ha. And once I get engrossed in Jane Austen, nothing else exists, and we can text. Take an umbrella, and have fun."

Otis Milburn was withholding the truth here, but he would be taking a quick look at those boring old concrete bunkers.

But next to those bunkers was the Pearl workshop. He was hatching another plan.


	56. A rainy day, a ring, and a choice

Otis Milburn would never, ever forget the way Maeve had slipped the engagement ring onto his finger and proposed to him. This was Maeve Wiley being original and unconventional by kneeling and proposing, and it didn't worry him at all that he hadn't been the one to assume the traditional male role and propose to her.

What he wanted to do as he jumped off the bus outside the pearl workshop was his way of assuming that male role without taking anything away from her beautiful grand gesture. What was done was done, and couldn't be undone. Not by anything.  
He reasoned that when he had bought the rings for them both, and he had written it specifically in his letter, they weren't meant to be engagement rings. 

Jersey Pearl was now going to give him the chance to buy a "real" engagement ring for her........ and at the same time offer her a choice, without in any way reducing the significance of the first "Moordale" ring.  
His heart beat faster as he approached the display cabinet where Maeve had paused and mentioned that the work on those pearls was particularly stunning. He had known then that the plan was to make her happy, which was always his aim in life. So it was a win/win situation.  
He knew she loved him above everything else in the world and would be thrilled with a pearl ring and the meaning behind it, even though the "real" proposal had already taken place on his deck that sunny day.  
And to be on the safe side, he was going to offer her two options.

And, of course, how else could it be? He was going to write her a note.

The ring purchase was made, and he added something else to provide "the second option". And in the pearl workshop cafe, he penned a letter for her. It went without saying that it would be written with all his love, and given with even more.  
He slipped it into the gift envelope that was provided with the ring and smiled. 

His phone buzzed. She was taking a tea break and wanted to know what he was doing.

"Are you soaked through yet, dickhead? You can't be out in this weather. Are you sheltering somewhere? I love Jane Austen but I love you a million times more, and I'm not missing you at all. xx "  
This kind of missing you lie was perfectly OK and he grinned and answered instantly.  
"The rain's easing off. Some lighter grey cloud heading your way. I'm at Jersey Pearl having a coffee. I'll get out to those bunkers soon. Then I can walk along the beach. Shall I bring you back a sandwich? Would you enjoy it? I love you endlessly xx"

Her heart soared sky high.............'Thanks for today'....... 'Hope you enjoyed the sandwich.'  
He was perfect, so perfect.

A few hours later, she heard his key in the lock as she finished her notes on Sense and Sensibility. His umbrella was wet, but he wasn't. The rain had passed and as he entered the living room, so did a ray of sunshine.

"Dammit, I forgot the sandwich, but we wanted to get fish and chips anyway, didn't we?"  
The fish and chip bar was only 3 minutes away and they could eat there and walk off their dinner along the clifftop. It seemed to be clearing up fast.

"Oh, and I got you this." 

He produced the gift box and card from his deep jacket pocket as he took it off. And he was going to be in the same room when she read his message. He'd be able to see her face as she did so.

"Maeve Wiley. I know you can read and digest Jane Austen at lightning speed, but I want you to read this slowly. Pause after each sentence. Let the message sink in....But open the box first........Maeve, I love you."

"Otis?" That was the 'I've just received the perfect diary' voice. And she said what she hadn't been able to put into words as she held the diary that day. "I think........ I think.....No, I know......I've always loved you, and I always will."

Even before she opened the box, she knew this was going to be something out of the ordinary. He never, never failed to hit the right spot, and his magical gifts were so special. Always. 

Her hands trembled slightly as she looked at the box, back at his eyes, back at the box, back at his lips, and she opened it.

And he watched her every move.

What she saw took her breath away. The brilliant silver ring, set with a single small pearl, the one that had stunned her on their visit, glittered at her in the pale sunlight.  
The beautiful ring was hanging from a long silver chain, and his letter explained why.

Otis didn't need to ask if she liked it. He knew she adored it and the look on her face as she fixed her lovely brown eyes on his smiling face filled him with an ocean of sweet, sweet love.

"Slowly, my beautiful Maeve, read the letter slowly."  
She was still stood in the living room, exactly as she'd stood in her caravan to read his essay-trophy letter.  
But this time he was there with her. Just one step away.

The words, right from the beginning, moved her heart and soul. She swore she was dreaming. He was there, looking at her, but she could hear his wonderful magical voice as she read them. Slowly and purposefully, and as he'd asked her, she paused in just the right places, and her heart missed a beat with every pause.

"Maeve. My sweet, my brilliant, my indescribably wonderful, beautiful Maeve. As I write this, I see your eyes as you proposed to me and whispered in my ear so sincerely and lovingly that you wanted me to marry you. You'd made the ring you slipped onto my finger an engagement ring. I hadn't originally intended it to be one, but it served its wonderful purpose and I said yes.  
"This is the ring I got you today, this time with the full intention of it being an engagement ring, and in no way is it meant to supersede, or place the one you already have in the shade.  
"What I wanted to do was give you a choice, and whichever you choose, I will love you eternally for it. You can either wear it on the chain round your neck, I made it a long one so it would hang as close to your heart as possible, or, you can take away the chain and wear it on your finger. There'll be plenty of room along with the first one.  
"Or, my one and only Maeve, you can do both, whenever the mood takes you. I know in my heart that you will cherish it as much as you love and cherish me, and I consider myself the luckiest guy in the world that you chose me. Honestly I do. And when I kiss you after you have read this, it will be my sincerest and my most loving kiss ever. I love you, Maeve."

Maeve had a thousand or more I Love You looks for him, and the one she gave him now was all of them rolled into one.

"It's so beautiful, Otis. Did I pause in the right places, dickhead? Did I read it slowly enough? I let it sink in and grasped it for now, but it will still be sinking in a hundred years from now. Do I get that kiss you promised me now?"

She got it, and the fish and chips would have to wait.


	57. No need to worry

As they lay in each other's arms on the sofa, Otis was feeling quite pleased with himself. Things had worked out perfectly with the ring-on-a-chain. Proof of this was her kiss in response to the one he'd promised her, and she was now wearing the chain around her pretty neck, which also boasted a love-bite near her left collar bone.  
And Maeve? She was in seventh heaven as she marvelled at the ways he showed her he loved and cared for her. The pearl engagement ring would be on her ring finger tomorrow, along with the "Moordale Ring". She was going to make good use of her "options".  
He'd been so sweet and given her a choice, just "to be sure". That was him OVERTHINKING stuff again.......Her heart glowed as he explained he would now be calling the pearl ring the "real engagement ring", making 100% sure that her gesture with the Moordale Ring would not be put to one side. He had thought of everything just to make her happy. And she was. 

But she was also hungry, and they walked to the fish bar in the twilight. Most of the clouds had cleared away, starting, for her, with the little ray of sunshine that entered the room as he returned from his walk. It was chilly, and fairly windy, but both had jackets, black leather ones, and their love to keep them warm.

The fresh fish and chip supper was out of this world. Not surprising really, because the fishing boats came in only half an hour away, and the Jersey potatoes, another of the island's specialities, were fresh and delicious.  
They ate the meal almost in silence but their relationship was so special that silence often didn't matter. She gazed into his eyes and at his ring. Even from the beginning, she'd constantly shifted her gaze from his eyes to his lips and back when she thought he wouldn't notice.

He could never take his gaze off her beautiful brown eyes for longer than a few seconds, and now he had something new to look at in the new silver chain. She and her other necklaces were inseparable, and he loved them too. 

The walk back, hand-in-hand along the clifftop, was perfect under a crescent moon. It had rained for most of the daylight hours, but the wind had blown the clouds away to reveal the moon and the stars. Was there a hint of dumb luck there too? Well, the holiday was planned, as were their day trips. The apartment and view were also perfect, but they'd seen lots of pictures on Jean's computer.

Was it dumb luck that the surprises they'd planned for each other had worked out so perfectly? "Planned" took away the luck, and they both knew how to make those surprises work.

Dumb luck would play a part soon. An event that neither of them had any control over whatsoever...............

Otis did worry occasionally that he might run out of ideas and she'd get bored with him. He'd even told her about it one lazy Sunday morning at her place.

"Otis, you're not thinking of the natural gifts you have that I love so much. You really can be an absolute idiot sometimes. Just being with you, with your arms around me, makes me deliriously happy. You make me laugh so much by just being you. You don't have to think stuff up. It just comes naturally. Remember when I thought you were going to ask me a really serious question that I'd have to think hard about, and it turned out you wanted to borrow a fiver till payday?  
"Listen, dickhead, we both love a joke, and we can consider ourselves lucky we have a sense of humour we can share, amongst so many other things. So next time you "worry" about keeping me happy, or amused, or satisfied, just switch off and be you. You're brilliant at that, and that's only one of the millions of reasons why I love you.  
" So next time you have doubts and I detect that, I might even get angry with you and chuck you in the river." And she'd shoved him playfully, almost pushing him out of bed.

"God, Maeve I thought I was supposed to be the therapist! We could even set up a practice together!"  
"Otis, I'd be hopeless. I have the occasional good idea, but compared to you..........well I'll just stick to literature."

But she really did have a point. Without thinking about it, he could be himself, and they both knew that if either of them wasn't on top form, the other could always step in and help out.  
Ways of keeping her happy just flowed when he switched focus. She'd only needed to mention the word joke and hundreds occurred to him.

"Did you hear the one about the guy who went to the shrink, thinking he was a dog?"

She hadn't.

"Up on the couch," the psychiatrist had said.

"I'm not allowed on the couch.," came the reply.

"How long has this been going on?"  
"Ever since I was a puppy."

"Otis, those jokes are so old. God was telling them at the kindergarten. But I love them, and I love you."

She was right, as she always was about stuff like this. He just needed to be himself. 

So common sense prevailed and just being together in the cosy apartment was absolute heaven. The forecast was good for the next day and they were going to use the bus service to explore the interior of the island.


	58. A chilly early evening wind

At breakfast, Otis thought he'd give Maeve a little test. “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well."

Maeve asked him, fast as lightning, where he'd been reading Woolf.

He grinned. "I'll leave that to you. It's a quote I got from a website, a tea room on our country roads tour today."

"Sounds good!" she enthused as she fingered the new ring on her left hand. "Tea, cake and scenery."

It was a perfect day for it. The tearooms would be the stop in St. Martin, in the heart of the Jersey countryside before their bus headed back to their apartment.  
The countryside and the coast were never far apart on the island. Moordale was surrounded by beautiful countryside, but the coast was farther away. Jersey was only 5 miles long and 9 miles wide, so they were never far from the sea, which was a deep blue today.  
Winding green lanes, farms, little churches, food stores and heritage centres would provide a backdrop to a relaxing tour, and when Otis saw the Woolf quote, he knew they just had to stop at those tearooms.

Maeve was in the shower when there was a knock at the door. The facility manager had dropped by to see if everything was OK and he had a parcel for Otis. He quickly opened it and a huge smile spread over his face. Inside was a note from his mum.  
Dumb luck. 

He hid the parcel and its contents at the bottom of his rucksack and Maeve's words echoed in his mind. 'Just be you. You don't have to do anything special to please me.' This would definitely please her, and he wouldn't have to do a thing. Just wait.

The trip was perfect, the tea and cakes were excellent and as they left the bus to walk the last few hundred yards to the apartment, the sun went behind some clouds and the wind chilled the air. They'd need the jumpers they'd packed now.

"Wait, Maeve."  
He quickly removed what he'd hidden at the bottom of his rucksack that morning. "You all right? I've got a jumper."  
On the bridge that night she had said 'So chivalrous' but this time she just squealed in sheer delight and jumped for joy.

"WHERE did that come from??"

"Dumb luck," said Otis with a huge smile. "Remember, my arms aren't freakishly long. Put it on, and I'll help roll up the sleeves if you like."

In broad daylight this time, she saw his jumper, minus the Nutella stain, but it had the faint scent of the aftershave he'd been wearing that evening. He'd quickly applied some to it before hiding the jumper that morning.

She couldn't help notice the name tag before she slipped it over her head. The name she'd constantly repeated to herself over and over again for what had seemed like forever. It would always be music to her ears.

Otis Milburn.

Otis told her what his mum's note had said. A neighbour at the caravan park had found the jumper and had meant to hand it over to Cynthia, but had forgotten about it. Clearing out her cupboards before moving out, she'd discovered it and handed it back to Cynthia, who of course knew what to do with it. She had taken it to the red house on the hill.

Jean had sent the jumper express delivery because something had told her deep down that Otis might want it back as soon as possible.

Maeve hugged him so tight after he'd rolled up the sleeves and the special kiss wouldn't be far away. They'd hugged countless times before, but Otis was feeling this one for the first time. A hug that combined deep love with an excited 'I'm jumping for joy' feeling. 

With tears of joy streaming down her cheeks she said he could have the jumper back after Jersey. In the meantime it would be under her pillow, where it belonged.


	59. A question of accommodation

Maeve remembered going back to the caravan that day after the essay talk to find Jackson and Sean messing about outside. She would have preferred to be alone and just think. Think about how he knew her so well and about how much she loved him. She'd been alone most of her life, but now these two were there, wanting a beer.  
And as she tidied up she saw Otis's jumper and her feelings took control of her yet again. That jumper had been her 'constant companion' and she needed it under her pillow, as close as possible so she could smell him and remember the night on the bridge.  
With the voices of Jackson and Sean in the background, she had smiled so lovingly, brought the jumper up to her face as she folded it, and taken in the smell of the sweetest dickhead on the planet.  
She'd closed her eyes and imagined being in his arms and kissing him so sweetly, wondering if there could ever be a way that she could make him hers......... And after exactly five seconds of bliss, she'd stopped abruptly and put the jumper down.  
Back to real life. He wasn't her boyfriend, and she'd resigned herself to being alone. 'Just one more thing to let you down.' 

But the butterflies and the voices came back. 'But I love him so madly.'  
Yes, he knew her so well, but she was still so confused.

And later, full of frustration and anger.......with herself...... she'd tossed it away. 'I messed it up........ I always mess everything up.'

And later, when she'd approached him to talk clinic stuff she could smell that aftershave again. And as he'd given her the diary, with her birthday pages torn out, he was close again. And she was close to telling him she loved him above everything else in the world. And the smell was always there.

Yes, that jumper had meant a lot, and she'd thrown it away.

Times were much happier now. He was hers, and only hers, and the jumper, through sheer dumb luck, was back. And she wasn't going to let it go, or let him go. Dumb luck had brought the jumper back, and dumb luck was about to strike again. 

At breakfast next morning, Otis's phone rang.  
It was Jean, asking if the jumper had arrived.

"Hi, Jean," Maeve had chirped happily, excitedly, and really rather loudly. "Thanks for sending the jumper!"

Otis smiled broadly and the rest of the conversation was a bit one-sided. "Yes, mum........ OK mum, We will...... Good idea, mum.........I'm sure she'll be fine with that, mum.....Great, mum. Super. ......." for the next ten minutes or so.

Maeve wasn't at all worried that she wasn't picking up what Jean was saying. He'd tell her soon enough if it was important. So she just played with the ring on the chain around her neck and checked out a map of one of the bays in Jersey, where they'd planned to spend the afternoon.

What she did notice, though, was that Otis seemed to be extremely happy about something his mum had been talking about. 

The look she gave him after he'd hung up meant only one thing.

"Tell me."

And he did, actually with rather a serious look on his face at first, but his smile appeared gradually, and it broadened as he told her about the dumb luck that had struck again.

The serious bit first.

"Mum has a plan, which I wholeheartedly agree with, but if I don't tell you now, it'll almost be like we're going behind your back. I'm not going to do that again after I told Jackson how to 'get' you, and even took money for it."

Maeve kept an open mind, wasn't about to get angry, because she knew there'd be more, and it had made him smile.

"So you'll know in a few short moments what we were talking about, and I think you'll agree with us." 

She smiled and repeated the three Ts to herself. Talking, trust, and truth. It had worked fine since Otis's apology sent with the essay award. He would never hurt her, and even though the conversation with Jean had seemed a bit secretive, (Jean hadn't actually given Otis much chance to speak anyway,) she could live with that.

"You were talking about me, then?"

"Yes, you and your, no, OUR future."

"I'm all ears, dickhead."

"We haven't talked about this yet, Maeve, but you know Cambridge will provide accommodation at both our colleges from the start. Had you thought about what was going to happen to your lovely flat? You've only been there a short time but it already holds such lovely memories for us."

"Yes, Otis. As we'll have rooms in Cambridge I won't need the flat. If and when we come home for weekends and holidays we can stay at yours."

"Are you honestly happy with that, Maeve? Losing the lovely flat?"

"No point in paying rent if we have other accommodation, Otis. It's not a big deal, and yes we have had lovely times at the flat already."

Otis kissed her and smiled. "We, or mum, actually, did go behind your back just now. No hatchet necessary, Maeve. I can tell you what made me smile."

"I'm intrigued, dickhead."

He had always intrigued her, that's why she'd fallen in love with him.

"How would you feel if...............?

She remembered Aimee's question that had brought them together........'if you could never see him or speak to him again?'

Her heart beat faster as she waited for what he was going to say.

He continued, with her undivided attention on him.

"...... if you could hold on to the flat? Not as a tenant, but just be able to use it whenever you want?"

Maeve now had an idea of what Jean had suggested to her son and said, quite straightforwardly, "I couldn't accept her paying the rent for me, Otis. I love her, and I love you, but all the expense, just for me?"

"No, Maeve. Her investment would pay off. She has so many contacts, some in the property business. Look where we're staying now. Another of her contacts arranged this holiday flat."

Maeve had never thought her tenancy of the flat would take this unexpected path.

"So what's her plan?"

"Holiday and weekend rentals. We're in a beautiful part of the world in Moordale and demand for your flat would continue, even in the low season. Mum would take over the flat and rent it out online, with an advanced booking sytem, enabling her to keep the flat free for you whenever you needed it for a break from college. Simple isn't it?"

It was. And Maeve wasn't at all upset that they'd 'gone behind her back' for those few short moments on the phone.. Jean wasn't going to be chucking her out.

And her smile grew as dumb luck did strike again. Dumb luck with the jumper and her love for him, and now a kind of financial dumb luck, which, when she thought about it, looked more and more attractive by the minute.

"Yes, Otis, I might even dabble in the property business myself! This has aroused my interest."

Otis grinned at her."Maeve Wiley, Doctor of English Literature, and a budding property business tycoon."

"And, dickhead, creator of a sex therapy scheme, which brought us together. Not bad at all.

"Now let's head for St. Brelade's Bay. I fancy a swim."


	60. A change in Maeve Wiley

Otis Milburn smiled to himself, sipping another coffee as she showered. Her voice as she sang 'The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades' above the sound of the running water was really rather good.  
Maybe they should start a band. But her voice always sounded good, whatever she was doing, and he was so pleased that in recent months, she had sounded so upbeat, so happy, and just glad to be alive. He could pat himself on the back proudly, because a lot of this had been his doing.  
He remembered her calling him, right back at the beginning, when he'd dropped his phone, terrified, feeling so insecure and awkward, regretting his decision to start on the clinic. Both he and Eric had called her 'Scary Maeve', and they'd been partly right.  
She was so tough on the outside, she wouldn't let anybody near her, she was loud and aggressive ............but she'd smiled at him as he did his thing with Adam. She'd smiled as they had corrected Eric about the Nietzsche quote, and, looking back, he had often been the only guy she'd smiled at.  
With her encouragement, he'd persevered and had soon found out that if you treated her right, she wasn't scary at all. She had a heart of gold and she'd told him he was actually good at something, whereas he'd only wanted to be the guy in the corner.......  
But never in his wildest dreams had he thought she'd fall for him, and that's why he'd taken up Ola and asked her to the dance.  
He was so secure now, he'd matured so much, and as he reflected, he even grew angry with himself because he hadn't seen the signs, or reacted accordingly. The hug by her caravan, her cheerful happy laughter in the pool, the way she'd looked at him as they bought orange juice for Kyle, the near kiss on the bridge, the tender loving smiles as they'd talked about Adam's essay.  
Yep. He'd been so mixed up and immature, and she had been so confused at this new feeling of sweet love. Teenagers did have hard times, simply because they were teenagers.

But one thing he knew now, above all else. She had fallen for him, she loved him above everything in the world, and he was the luckiest guy on the planet. 

In the last 24 hours he'd seen yet another change in her. Since the jumper had come back, she wasn't just her happy, optimistic, wonderful self. She'd become chirpy and bubbly. And it clicked. She was turning into another Aimee Gibbs, at least on the bubbly side of things.  
Had that jumper REALLY meant so much to her? As he'd rolled up the sleeves and their hands made contact, ('Eric, I think we had a moment, and I messed up') she was so close to kissing him. For that reason alone, they'd later slowed down to re-enact the kiss every time they'd crossed that bridge.

When Maeve came out of the bathroom she first saw his blue, blue eyes and then that distant smile on his face as he finished his coffee.

"I love you too, dickhead."

The bay was beautiful that afternoon, a 40-minute bus ride away with a change at the central bus station in St. Helier. The second half covered the winding coastal route and they took so many photos of the cliffs and the blue sea and the tropical vegetation. Jersey was showing herself from her best side, seemingly just for them. The long bay was great for swimming, had all the seaside facilities, and a lovely park and garden along the land side of the promenade above the beach.  
The only "bad" thing was that they had now slipped into the second half of their holiday, and time was moving on. But all holidays have to end sometime. And when they thought about it, they had each other, always, holiday or no holiday.

Maeve Wiley was so joyously happy that she made a decision and told Otis she wouldn't be taking her medication at bedtime that night. He seemed to be OK with that, and he knew he could hold her and tell her he was there for her if the worst happened. She knew it too as she gazed into his blue eyes in bed that night, and he gazed into hers. And they drifted off into dreamland.

And as they woke the following morning to blue skies and birdsong, they both knew everything was OK. She had dreamed of their first kiss by the bike racks, and he had dreamed of her slipping the Moordale ring onto his finger.

And in some ways, they both felt their happiness was well-deserved. Otis because he'd been so mixed up, so insecure and so freakish only a few months ago, and Maeve Wiley?  
She had found the guy who had had that beautiful calming effect on her ever since the night on the swings at Aimee's house party, and she'd fallen in love with him, and he had returned her love with his own beautiful, everlasting love, respect and dedication.

'I thought maybe you liked me, and I liked you back.'


	61. Barbados

Two days before they were due to leave Jersey, Otis's phone rang, but he didn't recognise the number on the display. "Hello?"  
"Hello. This is Jeff Thompson, facility manager speaking. Hope everything's OK with you. How would you like to earn an easy £200, Mr Milburn?"  
Thompson was a nice guy, trustworthy, and always happy to help.  
The phone had its speaker on and they both heard the question at breakfast.  
Otis was a little confused, as was Maeve, who shrugged and motioned for him to find out more before they committed to anything.  
"What can we do for you, Mr Thompson? I mean what would that involve exactly?"  
"Well, I'm going to be busy at a construction site for a day longer than I'd expected, and my partner is on holiday. Could you pick two guests up at the airport tomorrow and show them the apartment and how everything works, just like I showed you on your arrival? Lovely people, and they'll be renting the week after you, but with the first night at the hotel down the road. We'll cover the taxi fare of course."

Maeve nodded. They both knew the hotel because their island tour had started from there. 

"Sounds fine Mr Thompson. If you could just give me some details?"  
Otis quickly noted what they needed to know. 1pm flight from Cardiff, arriving 2.15pm, a Mrs Sarah Davies and partner, staying for a week. 

"Thanks Mr Thompson. We'd be happy to help."

This was totally outside what they'd been used to, but both had become excellent judges of character and had no reason to doubt Thompson's integrity, and £200 would definitely come in handy. On the day they left, they'd be dropping the keys in at the agency office, and could pick up the cash there.

Today they'd be doing a horse-drawn carriage tour around the capital, and at the airport the next day, they'd be in for a very pleasant surprise, arranged by Jean and the apartment agent.

Otis and Maeve arrived to meet the flight, with the name Sarah Davies printed in large letters on an A4 sheet of paper in a plastic folder.

But it wasn't "Sarah Davies and partner" who approached them at arrivals. Their smiles were huge as Sarah Harrison and Elsie hurried towards them in the Jersey airport terminal building.

A perfect end to a perfect holiday. 

Cambridge proved to be a total success, resulting in first class degrees for them both.

And as postgraduates going for their Masters and doctorates, they found a lovely little house for rent in a suburb of Cambridge. Absolutely perfect for them, except for one minor detail. The house owner was a little "old-fashioned" and only let property to married couples.  
So the wedding Maeve Wiley had so lovingly proposed to Otis Milburn while still at Moordale was celebrated with a small circle of family and friends........... and that's where we leave them, both headed for Barbados on a memorable honeymoon.

Maeve Milburn-Wiley and her husband Otis and their twin girls, Aimee and Elsie, got all the happiness they deserved.


End file.
